THE 



LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



Winfield Scott Hancock, 

]V[ajar-€jEiiEijctl If. $. &., 

EMBRACING HIS PARENTAGE, BOYHOOD DAYS, HOME TRAINING; 
WEST POINT EDUCATION; ARMY SERVICE OF THIRTY-SIX 
YEARS; HERO OF A HUNDRED BATTLES; AS A 
HARD-FIGHTING GENERAL; AS A CHAMPION 
OF CIVIL LAW ; PERSONAL CHARAC- 
TERISTICS ; ETC., ETC. 

ALSO, 

THE LIFE AND SERVICES 

OF 

Hon. William H. English, 

THE EXPERIENCED STATESMAN AND MAN OF BUSINESS, 

WITH THE LEADING POLITICAL EVENTS 

OF HIS TIME. 

By J. R. COLE, 

AUTHOR OF " THE LIVES OF EMINENT MEN," " A BOOK FOR EVERY HORSE OWNER," 
" ENGLISH GRAMMAR," "ETYMOLOGICAL SERIES," ETC. 

ILLUSTRATED WITH FINE FULL-PAGE STEEL PORTRAITS AND 
OTHER ENGRAVINGS. 

— '0 s I 



CINCINNATI: 
DOUGLASS BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS. 

1880. 






£^ n 






copyright by 

Douglass Brothers. 

isso. 



INTRODUCTION. 



OUR design in this work has been to delineate 
in as faithful a manner as possible the lives 
and characters of the two men now prominently 
brought before about fifty millions of American people. 
These men represent one of the great parties of the 
day, and as both parties look with intense interest 
upon their respective candidates, and as many, for 
the purpose of debasement, malignantly seek out the 
petty defects of political opponents, while others the 
true character, that they may judge of the abilities 
of the men from whom they must choose, we desire 
to portray in full the life of our candidate and repre- 
sentative, as he is, with all his faults and failures, 
also as he stands to-day— a fine specimen of physical 
manhood, a noble, true character, having a record in 
our country's annals as clear as crystal and a name 
synonymous with that of bravery and honesty. This 
is the glorious chronicle in which he has always been 
proclaimed by the history of our country. As a 
Union soldier, we can look at General Hancock en- 
gaged in the battles of Gettysburg, and others in 
which he became conspicuous, and for which services 
he received the thanks of Congress on the 30th of 
May, 1866. 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

Of Hon. W. H. English, his speeches and life, 
and advocacy of the fundamental principles of our 
Government, may suffice for his defense. Intellect- 
ually, he ranks high — having but few superiors in 
our country — his speeches, delivered in Congress 
during the last two years of his membership in that 
body, and the fact that while speaker of the Legis- 
lature no appeal was ever taken from his decisions, 
verify the above statement. In purity of style and 
excellency of spirit and diction, we have the impress 
of the scholar and statesman. 

The history of these men is indissolubly connected 
with that of our country, and a knowledge of one is, 
in a measure, also a knowledge of the other. It is 
to this history that we call attention. The old Jef- 
fersonian party takes on new life and becomes lifted 
into a higher blaze of sunshine as we look at her 
through these men. Their election to the chief of- 
fices of our country secures the unition of the fac- 
tions that have so longf distressed and harassed the 
country, both North and South. The speedy re- 
covery of the peace and prosperity of our once pre- 
eminently blest land is one important political sub- 
ject before us. Some solution of the difficulty is 
especially needed to efface effectually the differ- 
ences existing at this time. 

To accomplish this purpose, we call loudly for a 
more conservative element than is found in the ruling 
imperialistic ranks of the Republican party of to- 
day — something that will effectually blockade a con- 
centration of centralizing forces, but not the opposite 
of centralization — to the intent and purpose of the 



IXTRODUCTIOX. 5 

re-establishment of the States' rights doctrine ; not by 
any means. Radicalism has been our country's great 
enemy. We have always deprecated and abhorred 
the doctrine of secession, but its slimy folds are no 
more pernicious in their purposes than the Bonapart- 
ism that has been creeping so insidiously upon us 
within the last few years. We have struggled 
successfully against the one, the other was simply to 
come — is, in fact, the only difference between the 
two. Obstinate, unprincipled, and unscrupulous 
leaders headed the list in both factions. The rank 
and file of the American people, both North and 
South, are true to principles underlying our re- 
publican forms of government, and as they under- 
stand these principles, vote honestly for one party or 
the other; but in their investigations, principles have 
been lost sight of, in trying to keep pace with party 
sectionalisms. For this reason the Republican party 
of to-day is not the Republican party of 1856. That 
party was born for a special purpose, in which both 
Democrats and Whigs became founders. These two 
parties formed into line, and fought side by side, but 
as their object is now accomplished, it is but natural 
that the old Hancock Democracy should hie back to 
its Jeffersonian home, while that of radicalism should 
exile itself to its isolated Elba. 

Another difference exists, that should be men- 
tioned. The new party that took the field in '61 
to save the Union, found it necessary to trample 
down some of the rights cnven the States under the 
Constitution. These minor wrongs were committed 
for the sole purpose of preserving the Union. That 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

necessity no longer exists, and our country should 
not permit the iron heel of despotism to continue in 
power against a fallen foe. Men of to-day were boys 
twenty years ago. Our armies were principally com- 
posed of the youth of our land — and of which the 
writer was one. Since that time, however, we have 
all grown to be men, and to a great extent, during 
these years, have lost sight of the constitutional lib- 
erties granted by our forefathers, in the education 
received at the hands of our once beloved Repub- 
lican party. These Republican measures in which 
training was given, although unconstitutional, were 
once deemed necessary ; but the tendencies have 
been injurious, inasmuch as the education being par- 
tisan, is now of an embittering, fratricidal character, 
extremely prejudicial to the interests of our country. 

This conservative element, needed just at this 
time, is one that finds a golden medium between the 
movement made on the part of the unscrupulous and 
over-excited leaders of the Republican party, favor- 
ing Grantism and imperialism, and that other class, 
equally as soulless and unpatriotic, favoring extreme 
views of States' rights to an ultra degree, in opposi- 
tion to centralization and federalistic principles of our 
Government. 

This medium has been found in the Democratic 
principles advocated and maintained by General 
Hancock — the principles he has brought into life by 
his living them out. As a soldier, his sword has 
upon its edge no stain ; as a constitutional lawyer, 
his record has been made for the Union, and against 
secession — his acts vouchsafe peace and harmony to 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

the South, under the Constitution, with all its late 
amendments, in a manner conciliatory and to the 
best interests of that people. The law-abiding, 
liberty-loving classes in both North and South, in 
both parties, will rally to the principles he has always 
proclaimed. 

It is to this man — to his life and to the princi- 
ples that have actuated him in the North, in the 
army, in the South — in his unimpeachable character 
as a citizen of our commonwealth, we call attention. 
Our endeavors to portray his character for a read- 
ing public, have been done to show what sort of a man 
he is — his availableness, his fitness, for the Presi- 
dency. Sometimes candidates have some of the 
qualifications necessary for that office, but are sadly 
wanting in others. How is it with Hancock? An 
elimination of the qualities existing in our repre- 
sentative is, in part, here contributed. His record 
given as a general in the army is conscientiously and 
indissolubly linked to those of the foremost soldiers 
of the war for the Union. No general in the war 
was braver. No general in the army met the emer- 
gency of a great and critical hour with more prompt- 
ness and bravery than Hancock at the battle of 
Gettysburg. Grant at Vicksburg was not greater 
in his soldierly power. The brilliant, dashing, swift- 
riding Sheridan was no greater — Hancock was also 
"twenty miles" away, but he rode that distance, 
located the place, made the plan, and, in fact, exe- 
cuted, the battle of Gettysburg with such a full and 
ready capacity of courage that history does not hesi- 
tate to stamp him one of our greatest heroes. 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

The Gettysburg battle was the great pivotal 
battle of the war. The time and place and circum- 
stances under which the North was placed at that 
time caused much fear; and had our army failed in 
its mission there, the scales would very likely have 
been turned against us, and our ranks become so 
demoralized as to have affected the glorious results 
finally accomplished. 

Yet in all this, brilliant, as it seems, and grand 
as General Hancock's leadership was, it is worthy 
of no more attention than the history made by him 
while acting as military governor of the Fifth Military 
District of the South. 

To all these brilliant records, as a soldier, as a 
constitutional lawyer, and as a military governor, we 
call the attention of our readers, that they may learn 
and judge for themselves. 



CONTENTS. 



Winfield Scott Hancock. 



CHAPTER I. 

Hancock's Lineage— Military Prestige— Local Advantages of Birth- 
place—Juvenile Drills— Early and Later Characteristics of Life 
compared— The Products of the War of 1861— Occupation and 
Financial Embarrassments of the Hancock Family— Church Mem- 
bership, Religious Training— Books for Winfield Page 17 

CHAPTER II. 

CHILDHOOD AND CADET LIFE. 

Removal of the Hancock Family— The County Seat— The Old Home 
— Norristown Academy— Winfield' s Teachers— School Register— 
What is said of Young Hancock— Noted Men of Norristown— How 
Winfield got the Appointment to West Point— His Classmates at 
West Point— Cadet Work, etc 2 5 

CHAPTER III. 

HOME AND FAMIL Y. 

Hancock's Natural Advantages— West Point Prestige— Attractions out- 
side the St. Louis Barracks— Marriage to Miss Almira Russell— Mrs. 
Hancock's Beauty and Education— The two Children— Death of 
Ada Hancock— General Hancock— The White House Mania— A 
Criticism— The Hancock Property— Russell Hancock's Traits and 
Runaway Match— Professor Fowler's Opinions of Hancock 33 



10 CONTEXTS. 

CHAPTER IV. 

GENERAL HANCOCK'S MILITARY RECORD PREVIOUS TO THE 

REBELLION. 

The Sixth Regiment — Mexican Troubles — Call for Troops— General 
Taylor — Command assumed by General Scott — Success of the 
United States Troops — General Scott's First Six Month's Service — 
The Situation of the Enemy in Mexico City — Gallantry of our Sol- 
diers — Hancock Brevetted — Entrance to the City — Hancock after 
the War— In Utah, etc Page 43 

CHAPTER V. 

.GENERAL HANCOCK' IN THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 

Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln — Jeff. Davis — Rights Contested — 
Government Property in the South — Hancock Decides in Favor of 
the Union — His Appointment and Command — Camp Drill — The 
North and South compared in Officers, Men, etc. — M'Clellan goes 
to Fortress Monroe — Magruder — The Evacuation and Pursuit — 
Williamsburg Battle — Hancock's Brilliant Charge, the Report — De- 
struction of the Iron-clad Merrimac — The Dela> — Battles at Fair 
Oaks and Gaines' Hill — The Feint made to Deceive M'Clellan — 
The Position of Hancock's Brigade — Retreat to Malvern Hill — Jeff. 
Davis in Command — Retreat to Harrison Landing 48 

CHAPTER VE 

HANCOCK AGAINST LEE IN HIS RAID NORTH OF THE POTOMAC. 

M'Clellan returns to Washington — Reorganization of our Demoralized 
Troops — Lee's Concentration of Troops at Frederick — The Procla- 
mation — Enlisting Troops for the Rebels — The Movement toward 
Harper's Ferry — The Battle at Crampton's Gap — Failure at Harper's 
Ferry— Forces at Antietam Creek — Hooker's Flank Movement — 
The First Day's Fight — Burnside's Delay — The Re-enforced Enemy 
— Our Distress — Hard Fighting on Second Day — Hancock's Charge 
His Heroism and Promotion — Conclusion 60 

CHAPTER VII. 

HANCOCK OX THE RAPPAII ANNOCK. 

Burnside's Command — The Movement South by both Armies — Situa- 
tion of Troops at Fredericksburg — Pontoon Bridges, and the De- 



coy TEXTS. 1 1 

lay— Marye's Heights— The Impassable Stone-wall— The Horrible 
Carnage of Hancock's Corps— After the Fight— Recrossing the 
River— Restoring the Confidence of the Men— Change of Com- 
manders Pa § e 68 

CHAPTER VIII. 

HANCOCK ON THE RAPPAHANNOCK, CONCLUDED. 

Situation of our Troops — Placing the Troops for Battle — The Shape 
Assumed— Jackson's Flank Movement— The Sudden Attack— The 
Retreat — Major Kernan — The Fearful Execution from the Bat- 
tery — Death of Stonewall Jackson — Fighting Joe Hooker — Second 
Day's Fight — Hancock's Promotion — His Testimony — Notes of the 
Battle — Touching Incidents, etc 7$ 

CHAPTER IX. 

GENERAL LEES RAID NORTH. 

The Two Armies — General Lee — The Condition of the North and South 
Respectively — Invasion of Pennsylvania — The Results Expected — 
An Opportune Time — Lee leaving the Rappahannock — Route 
taken, and Engagements with our Troops — The President's call for 
Volunteers — Extensive Preparations — Location of Troops — Han- 
cock's Second Corps 89 

CHAPTER X. 

PRELIMINARIES TO THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 

The Strategic Movements of Hooker and Lee — The Advance North- 
ward — General Milroy's Defeat — Hooker's Fear — Hancock at 
Thoroughfare Gap — The Crossing of the Potomac — Call for Troops 
The Enemy — How Situated — General Hooker relieved of the Com- 
mand — The Trouble— Gettysburg — How Situated — Disposition of 
Troops for the Battle , ■.■ 96 

CHAPTER XL 

FIRST DA V A T GETTYSBURG. 

The Advance on Gettysburg — Buford's Skirmish Line — Reinforce- 
ments — The Rush for Oak Hill — Death of General Reynolds — Des- 
perate Fighting — The Iron Brigade — The Bucktail Brigade — The 



12 CONTENTS. 

Continuous Line of the Enemy's attack — The Retreat — The Bat- 
teries — John Burns Page 105 

CHAPTER XII. 

HANCOCK AT GETTYSBURG. 

Hancock's Order from Meade— Arrival on the Field — Disposition of 
the Different Corps for Battle — Battle on the Left — Sedgwick's 
Corps — Attack on the Right— Batteries on the Right — Fearful 
Cannonade from the Enemy on Seminary Ridge — General Han- 
cock's Bravery — The Attack and Repulse of the Enemy — Prisoners 
Captured 118 

CHAPTER XIII. 

" THE TWO HEROES OF GETTYSBURG." 

Hancock's Wound — Pickett's Charge — General Lee — A Retreat Re- 
solved upon — John Burns — His Services in the Battle — Burns 
Wounded — Burns' Recompense — Hancock's Absence from his 
Command — Public Receptions — Grant Promoted to the Command 
of the Army, etc 132 

CHAPTER XIV. 

HANCOCK IN THE BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS. 

Grant Crosses the Rapidan — Condition of the Wilderness — Lee's 
Sudden Attack — Hancock Recalled — The Battle — March to Spott- 
sylvania Court-house — Positions Taken — The Hotly-contested En- 
counters — Hancock Captures Rebel Breastworks — On to Rich- 
mond 144 

CHAPTER XV. 

HANCOCK BEFORE RICHMOND. 

Hancock at North Anna — The Bloody Battle at Cold Harbor — The 
Advance made toward Petersburg — Major-general W. F. Smith and 
Hancock — The Attack on Petersburg, and Our Reverses — Cavalry 
Raids around Richmond — The Siege Begun 1 5S 

CHAPTER XVI. 

HANCOCK BEFORE PETERSBURG. 

Blowing up the Rebel Fort — The Failure of Hancock's Second Dem- 
onstration North of the James River — Battle of Ream s Station — 



CONTENTS. 13 

Battle of Hatcher's Run-Siege Begun-A Review of Facts-The 
Gallant Second Corps-Hancock as a Military Commander..Page 168 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE TRIAL OF MRS. MARY E. SURRATT. 

General Remarks— An Opinion that the Conspiracy was General— 
The Conspirators— The Assassination and Escape— The One Hun- 
dred Thousand Dollars Reward— The Trial, Conviction, and Sen- 
tence—Hancock's Petition— The Doubtful Question attested— Con- 
cluding Remarks l 3 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

HANCOCK AS A MILITARY GOVERNOR. 
Condition of the South upon taking Command of the Fifth Military 
District— The Position Taken— Services Rendered in Missouri- 
General Order, No. 40— A Happy Disappointment to the People- 
Progress made toward Reconstruction— Arbitrary Arrests and Re- 
movals from Office— Letter to Governor Pease 194 

CHAPTER XIX. 

GENERAL HANCOCK'S ISLAND HOME 

Situation of the Island— Hancock's Head-quarters— House— Family- 
Forts and Batteries— Churches— Faithful Patrick 216 



William H. English. 

CHAPTER XX. 

History, of Parents— His Literary Career, Profession, and Progress- 
Devotion to Politics— Positions held in Office— His Advantages in 
Early Life— Our Great Men— His Father— His Mother— Grand- 
parents, who they were — In Memory of the Dead— Personal De- 
scription 22 3 

CHAPTER XXI. 

MR. ENGLISH IN HIS EARLY POLITICAL CAREER. 
Entrance into Politics— His Position as Postmaster— As Clerk of the 
Indiana House of Representatives— On the Stump in the Canvass 



14 CONTEXTS. 

of 1844 — Clerk in the United States Treasury Department — A Dem- 
ocratic Family — Elected Secretary of the Constitutional Conven- 
tion — Speaker of the House — Traits of Character Page 235 

CHAPTER XXII. 

ENGLISH IN CONGRESS. 

English in Congress — The Conflicting Views on Slavery — The Kansas- 
Nebraska Trouble — Boundary Lines — The Two State Govern- 
ments — Amendments proposed by Mr. English — Popular Sover- 
eignty — Mr. English on Slavery — The Author's Views on these 
Questions 248 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

MR. ENGLISH ON THE WAR QUESTION. 

His Views on Know-nothings — As Regent of the Smithsonian Insti- 
tute — Re-election to Congress — Views on Slavery — The English 
Bill — Congratulations from the President — Explanations of the 
English Bill — Notable Contests for the Speakership 263 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

SITUATION OF AFFAIRS AFTER i860. 

The Platforms and Nominating Conventions of 1856-1860 — Mr. En- 
glish's Visit to Charleston — The Split in the Democratic Party — 
Mr. English retires to Private Life — His Interest Manifest for the 
Cause of the Union — His Speeches — Favors Tilden and Hend- 
ricks -86 

CHAPTER XXV. 

MR. ENGLISH AS A BUSINESS MAN. 

Enters into Banking — Increase in Bank Capital— Gold and Silver the 
True Standard— Opposed to Inflation— Success in Business—The 
Resignation— The Stockholders' Presentation 301 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

A DIVIDED DEMOCRACY. 

Cincinnati Convention of I856— Founders of the Democratic Party- 
Provisions— Democratic Principles — Dangers of Arbitrary Rule 
guarded — Strength of the Party— Democracy Fallen — Causes lead- 
ing to the Trouble— Thomas Jefferson a True Democrat— Later 
Times— Platforms and Principles of Democracy Compared 30; 



CONTENTS. 15 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

A RESTORED DEMOCRACY. 

Abraham Lincoln and his Government — Object of the War — Virginia 
and Tennessee — Reconstruction under Lincoln — Andrew Johnson 
and Congress — The Usurpation by Congress of Constitutional 
Rights— The Veto— The South after the War— Registration Frauds- 
Radical and Democratic Government compared — General Ewing's 
Speech Page 326 



National Democratic Convention. 
chapter xxviii. 

FIRST DAY OF THE CINCINNATI CONVENTION. 

Cincinnati and the Hotels — Noted Personages — Music Hall — The 
Decorations — The Press and Telegraphic Associations — The Del- 
egations — Tammany Hall — Indiana Delegation — Tilden's Letter — 
The Southern Delegates — Meeting at the Hall — Judge Hoadley's 
Speech — Preliminary Business — Appointment of Committees.... 345 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE SECOND DA YS CONTEST. 

Opening Exercises of the Convention — The Soldiers Remembered — 
The Battle on Credentials — Report on Permanent Organizations — 
What an Eye-witness says — Three Minutes' Speech by General 
Young — Senator Stevenson — The Nominations — General Hancock's 
Nomination — The Votes taken — Closing Scenes of the Day 381 

CHAPTER XXX. 

HANCOCK THE CHOICE OF THE CONVENTION. 

Opening Exercises— Another Candidate — The Ballot — The Hancock 
" Boom " — Delegations Falling into Line — The Uproarious Session — 
Speeches — The Platform — Nomination of English — Letters of Ac- 
ceptance. 407 



16 ILLUSTRATIONS. 



LIST OF FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PORTRAIT OF MAJOR-GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK (Steel 

Engraving.) Frontispiece. 

THE EARLY HOME OF GENERAL HANCOCK Page 27 

GENERAL HANCOCK'S HOME, GOVERNOR'S ISLAND, N. Y 21 J 

portrait OF HON. William H. English (Steel Engraving.). ..Face 225 

MUSIC HALL, CINCINNATI — EXTERIOR VIEW 395 

MUSIC HALL — NOMINATION OF GENERAL HANCOCK 409 

GENERAL HANCOCK RECEIVING CONGRATULATIONS AT HIS HEAD- 
QUARTERS, GOVERNOR'S ISLAND 415 



LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



Winfield Scott Hancock. 



CHAPTER I. 

HANCOCK'S LINEAGE — MILITARY PRESTIGE — LOCAL ADVANTAGES OF 
BIRTH-PLACE — JUVENILE DRILLS — EARLY AND LATER CHARACTER- 
ISTICS OF LIFE COMPARED — THE PRODUCTS OF THE WAR OF l86l — 
OCCUPATION AND FINANCIAL EMBARRASSMENTS OF THE HANCOCK 
FAMILY — CHURCH MEMBERSHIP, RELIGIOUS TRAINING — BOOKS FOR 
WINFIELD. 

WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK, the son of 
Benjamin Franklin and Elizabeth Hancock, 
was born in Montgomery Township, Montgomery 
County, Pennsylvania, on the 14th of February, 1824. 

The young Pennsylvanian had two brothers : 
Hillary, a twin, who so closely resembled him that 
the two were hardly distinguishable apart, even by 
intimate friends of the family, when seen at a short 
distance; the name of his other brother is John, 
some years younger. Hillary is an attorney-at-law, 
in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

Winfield is a descendant of fighting stock. His 

father, his grandfather, and his great-grandfather 

were all accustomed to the hardships, to the din and 

smoke, of the battle-field ; and our young hero — in- 

2 



18 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

heriting it as patrimony — had the spirit of the soldier 
breathed into his being as an inheritance. ■ 

His maternal grandfather was a Revolutionary 
soldier, and was captured at sea, and confined in the 
Dartmoor prison, England ; and his mother's ma- 
ternal grandfather was also a soldier in the Revolu- 
tionary struggle, and served under Washington. 
He rendered noted service for his country, but, yield- 
ing to the hardships and exposures of the battle- 
field, endured in the heavy marches and long cam- 
paigns, died at the close of the war. Hancock's 
own father served in the war of 1812. 

The family history of the Hancocks — mostly of 
a military experience — had its significant bearings 
upon the future inclinations of young Winfield. 
Around his father's fireside he often heard the varied 
stories of hardships and privations of the soldiers on 
the battle-field, of their heroic virtues, of camp-life, 
of the sad lot that fell to those captured in battle 
and held as prisoners of war, and of the loss of 
fathers, brothers, and sons, leaving home and the 
endearments of life as sacrifices upon their country's 
altar — necessary for liberty and freedom, and inde- 
pendence of their country's rights. Of all this the 
ready ear and quick eye of the youthful Hancock, 
naturally possessing a love for military life, caught 
up as if by inspiration, and but too plainly showed 
itself in his boyish imaginations for the love of child- 
ish parade and mimicry of war. 

In addition to this, he seems to have been blessed 
in the locality of his birth-place. Eastern Pennsyl- 
vania is not only a paradise of rolling fields — rich, 



EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 19 

luxuriant, and prolific in bestowing nature's choicest 
fruits and vegetable products of the soil — but this 
part of the State is suggestive in its historical 
scenery also. His father's fireside was on the banks 
of the Schuylkill, a river crossed and recrossed by 
armies of either side many times. It was but a 
short distance down to Philadelphia, where young 
Winfield had gone often, and when there contem- 
plated upon the condition of affairs, when Howe 
captured Philadelphia, and Philadelphia in turn, by 
the feastings and midnight revelings of the Brit- 
ish soldiers, had as victoriously captured Howe. 
There was Germantown, only six miles from Phila- 
delphia, where Howe almost became successful 
against Washington in his advance upon Philadel- 
phia; and there were the other towns of Trenton, 
and the capture of the Hessians, of Burlington, of 
Bordentown, of Crosswick, of Valley Forge, of Elk 
River, of Brandywine Creek, of Chad's Ford — most 
of them within easy reach of half-day's ride from 
Norristown, and each in turn possessing a history 
significant and full of interest to the citizens of East- 
ern Pennsylvania, and especially to those of Han- 
cock's own immediate vicinity. 

Coming from a race of such military pedigree, and 
possessing a natural love for the battle-field, these 
places, with all their historical associations, became 
to his mind, a "thing of beauty and a joy forever." 
And it is not surprising that even when a boy he 
had a weakness in chasing 1 his thoughts into a mili- 
tary direction, and in his dreamy imaginations ac- 
complished deeds on the battle-field greater than 



20 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

those recorded in history. All this was but natural, 
and in proof of which we read interesting sketches 
of his school-boy days, where he was in the habit of 
pummeling his classmates into line for a juvenile drill, 
and, arranging them vis-avis, would charge upon 
the enemy's works and capture prisoners and muni- 
tions of war. His trestle-board for military parade 
was back of the old academy building. For soldiers' 
outfits, uniforms, etc., Hancock generally improvised 
paper cocked-hats, guns and swords of sticks, and 
thus prepared, and as their acknowledged leader, 
would put his men through all manner of maneuvers, 
which, to their boyish minds, was the acme of mil- 
itary perfection. 

Now, in after years, when we can take a sober, 
sage look, retrospective of the hundred battle-fields 
of our hero, we can but plainly see how history re- 
peats itself in the life of the general, and why it is 
"the boy is father to the man." 

In his playful sports, we are happy to be able to 
record the fact that notwithstanding Hancock was 
the recognized lion of his chums and playmates, he 
was always obedient to law and order himself, and 
a stern firm friend and protector to the weak and op- 
pressed. The poverty-stricken class, or the helpless 
orphaned playmates over whom the older scholars 
would sometimes tyrannize, always found him no 
less ardent in his friendship on account of their mis- 
fortunes. His great sympathetic heart would always 
overflow out of sympathy for the unfortunate ones 
in life. This was a recognized fact all through his 
long, eventful life in the service. The seed thus 



"WHEN GOVERNOR." 21 

sown in love and good-will for his iellow-man has 
not been without its just reward. As the life of 
the General comes to the surface for the reading 
public, these heroic virtues are fanned into a blaze 
of love by the former recipients of his favors. 

When in charge of the Fifth Military District of 
the South, he recognized a fallen foe, his fellow-man, 
whom he had previously helped to conquer and sub- 
due, but nevertheless men united in affections of 
kindred ties, but a down-trodden, a helpless, a broken- 
hearted people. He then and there dared to lift up 
the civil authority, to restore them to their own 
rigrhts under the Constitution of their forefathers, 

o 

and to give them the right of trial by jury, the 
habeas coi'pus, freedom of speech, and to proclaim 
to their over-heated enemies that he would uphold 
these rights of theirs by the sword that he held in 
his hand. This is the man whom we have ever 
found brave and courageous in boyhood and man- 
hood, yet generous to his friends and his enemies 
alike, even to a fault. By his heroic acts of life, civil 
and military, unstained as they are, he is worthy of 
the honors that have ever been showered upon him 
by the beauty and chivalry of our land. 

The war of 1861 brings to surface many men 
prominently, who would otherwise have had no his- 
tory. This is true of Grant, and probably would 
have been so with Hancock. We are not gifted as 
astrological prophets, but we surmise the General 
would have been a failure as a farmer or even as a 
tanner. To think of him in the field with a hoe in 
hand, or behind the counter as a vender, is ludicrous 



22 WINF1ELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

in the extreme. We presuppose simply that a kind 
providence, foreseeing our needs, prepares great 
men for some of the sterner emergencies of life. 
Their history, to be full, necessitates that of others, 
not, in themselves, very important, but only as they 
by their intimacy or relationship shed luster upon 
the subject. This is our apology for inserting his- 
torical sketches of the members of the family and 
others spoken of in the work. Benjamin Franklin 
Hancock, after the war of 1S12, returned to Mont- 
gomery County, and became a justice of the peace. 
The family was in a somewhat poverty-stricken con- 
dition ; nor did Mr. Hancock's income furnish an 
over-abundant supply, that a part of which could be 
laid away for pin-money. It was found to be really 
necessary for Mrs. Hancock to assist in the work 
of obtaining the necessaries of life, which she read- 
ily and willingly did by the free use of her needle 
and thimble, in her occupation as a milliner. They 
both had their business in the same store. Mr. 
Hancock afterward, however, became an attorney- 
at-law, and was more successful in the regular pro- 
fession as a lawyer. 

The Hancocks were formerly members of the 
Friends' Society, but after removing to Norristown 
took a pew in the Baptist Church, and were ever 
afterward strong adherents to that denomination. As 
descendants of the Puritanic stock, however, their 
religious zeal w r as of a high order, and as such they 
may have been over-particular and peculiar in certain 
observances and forms of religion ; but it matters not, 
in this respect, to what degree their faith and zeal car- 



EARLY TRAINING. 23 

ried them, as religious influence can not but be highly 
subservient to the wants of fallen humanity, no mat- 
ter in what form the application may be made. So 
with them the fruitage of their religious zeal twined 
itself into the hearts of their boys, only to reappear 
again in the acts of their lives in later days. Gen- 
eral Hancock's life furnishes an abundant proof of 
just such training, from a father's teachings and a 
mother's loving counsels. Mr. Hancock was also 
superintendent of the Sabbath-school, and made it 
obligatory upon the members of his family to at- 
tend likewise. It was not enough to simply clothe 
and feed the family, but a careful watch was held, 
looking unto their spiritual wants, as well. All this 
did much toward making the successful General, and 
giving direction and guidance to his native abilities 
in the leadership of men. 

One of the great sins of the day, on the part of 
parents, is the want of a watchfulness over the chil- 
dren in the selection of good books for them to read. 
He thought, as did Edward Brooks, that it is better 
to inspire the heart with a noble sentiment than to 
teach the mind a truth of science. Mr. Hancock 
watched closely the formation of the habits of thought 
in his children, and took care to inspire their minds 
with noble sentiments. A single illustration, in this 
particular, will suffice: After it was decided that 
Winfield should go to West Point, his father, as 
usual, gave good advice in regard to a proper use 
of his leisure time ; and as he was now to become a 
soldier, his father said, above all he should under- 
stand the principles of law, as republics had gen- 



24 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

erally fallen by soldiers' swords. Upon making this 
statement, he gave Winfield several books to read — 
one was the Constitution of the United States, a 
copy of Blackstone, and some others — and told him 
to read these at least once a year. With these in- 
structions Winfield carefully complied. 

We may gather some idea from facts similar to 
the one given how the critical acumen of the man was 
awakened, how his mind was guarded against perni- 
cious reading, and stored with grand thoughts clothed 
in beautiful language, and an interest awakened in 
the character and productions of good writers. 



THE OLD HOME. 25 



CHAPTER II. 

CHILDHOOD AND CADET LIFE. 

REMOVAL OF THE HANCOCK FAMILY — THE COUNTY SEAT — THE OLD 
HOME — NORRISTOWN ACADEMY — WINFIELD'S TEACHERS — SCHOOL 
REGISTER — WHAT IS SAID OF YOUNG HANCOCK — NOTED MEN OF 
NORRISTOWN — HOW WINFIELD GOT THE APPOINTMENT TO WEST 
POINT — HIS CLASSMATES AT WEST POINT — CADET WORK — ETC. 

WHEN General Hancock was about four years 
of age, his parents moved from Montgomery 
Township to Norristown, the county seat of Mont- 
gomery County, Pennsylvania, a distance of about 
ten miles. The place was then but a mere village, 
about the year 1828; but since that time it has 
grown in size, until now it is a city of considerable 
importance. It is situated on the east bank of the 
Schuylkill, seventeen miles north-west of Phila- 
delphia. 

At first the family resided in a two-story stone 
house, still standing, but in a very dilapidated con- 
dition. It has not been habitable for years. The 
house at that time was one mile west of the town, 
on the old Ridge Pike, but is now within the city 
limits near the cemetery. 

During the early years of Winfield, the family 
were in straitened circumstances, and, being poor, 
experienced many of the hardships of life while 
struggling for a subsistence ; but as business improved, 



2G WiyFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

Mr. Hancock became well-to-do in this world's 
goods eventually. After finding himself in easy cir- 
cumstances he removed into town, and occupied a 
three-story brick house on Swede Street, near 
Lafayette Street, having his office in a small brick 
building adjoining. 

The old Norristown Academy then stood where 
the present market house now stands, and was 
supported as a private institution. In short, as the 
free schools were not opened until the year 1838, 
patronage to the acadamy was general, there being 
no alternative for the youth of that place desirous of 
obtaining an education. This was Winfield's substi- 
tute for an alma mater. It was rather a .dingy 
looking two-story brick building, having a belfrey 
over the center, and stood at the upper end of what 
was then known as Dekalb Street, and faced directly 
down the thoroughfare, now Main Street. To the 
rear of the academy was a beautiful woodland, which 
has since been cleared off, and at this time is the 
most beautiful part of the city. 

Winfield's first teacher was one Eliphalet 
Roberts, who was principal of this academy for a 
number of years. Mr. Roberts kept an open 
register — which he still preserves — for the recording 
of the names of his pupils, with blank spaces to the 
right (the name being recorded on the left) for the 
chronicling of any event of importance coming within 
the history of their lives. In this registry are found the 
names of Winfield, Hillary, and John Hancock. The 
first event written on the riqdit of Winfield's name 
was this: " W. S. Hancock, Second Corps Com- 



TEACHERS AND SCHOOLMATES. 29 

mander on the Potomac ; distinguished at Williams- 
burg, also at Fredericksburg, Antietam, Gettysburg 
(wounded at Gettysburg), battle of the Wilderness, 
and at Spottsylvania Court-house. 

Mr. Roberts was assisted in his labors in school 
by two subordinate teachers, Miss Harriet Dudley, 
deceased, and Watson Coe, who lives at this time 
in Connecticut. These teachers have always spoken 
in terms of the highest praise of Winfield Hancock. 
He was, from their record, manly, straightforward, 
and honest. Was quiet, but firm, in everything he 
undertook, and his conduct was such as to never 
merit a single rebuke by his teachers. He was 
careful to observe the requirements of his superiors, 
even to the very spirit as well as the letter. So 
neat was he that on his section in his seat, or on 
his white pine desk, there never was found a knife 
mark. 

Hancock was an apt pupil and had a special 
taste for scientific investigation and discovery, and 
was not only proficient as a scholar and acknowl- 
edged as a leader among - those of his own age, but 
it is a matter worthy of record that he attracted 
considerable attention among men. We read of him 
being selected by the people of Norristown, when 
but fifteen years of age, to read the Declaration of 
Independence on a certain Fourth of July cele- 
bration. 

Norristown, in the days of young Winfield, 
became the birth-place of several men, who attended 
the academy at the time, or about the time, our 
hero did, and who afterwards became distinguished 



30 WIS FIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

men. There were such men as Philip R. Freas, who 
for fifty years was editor of the Germantown Tele- 
graph ; William Axe, police lieutenant of Philadelphia ; 
Rev. Fred. Conrad, professor in the Lutheran 
Theological Seminary, Philadelphia; Rachael Hess, 
now Sister of Charity in Philadelphia ; Samuel 
Hartranft, father of ex-Governor Hartranft ; Nathan 
Jacoby, since associate judge in Norristown; Henry 
Pawling, the well known king or Prussian physician ; 
and many others. 

Major Renniman (Denison) gives us an account 
of the circumstances that led to Hancock's selection 
for a cadetship in the United States Military 
Academy — the turning point of his life. We give it 
in substance: "The Hon. Joseph Fornance, the 
Representative in Congress for Montgomery 
District, had the privilege of naming a cadet. 
Among those who were desirous of obtaining' the 
appointment was a new arrival in Philadelphia who 
was entertaining ambitious notions of his son. In 
order to obtain influence over the representation in 
Congress, it was necessary to have that of an 
eccentric old lawyer who was quite wealthy and 
very influential. This lawyer had a high opinion of 
his new friend, and gave him a horse with instruc- 
tion, that as he was old, he must not be required to 
perform work that was very hard. The friend in 
return was very profuse in his thanks for the favor 
received, and assured the lawyer that the horse 
would be properly taken care of. The donor, being 
in Philadelphia one day, saw, to his surprise, his 
fine-looking old servant harnessed to a heavy load 



CADETSHIP. 31 

and the driver brutally lashing him to do work 
beyond his strength. He at once bought him back 
and rode him home. Passing Mr. Hancock's house, 
he called that gentleman to the door and abruptly 
asked, "Mr. Hancock, would you like to have 
Winfield appointed to a cadetship at West 
Point?" "Really," said Mr. Hancock, "I have never 
thought of such a thing. The mattter comes to me 
so suddenly that I can not answer at once. I must 
have time to think of it." "Think it over, then," 
said the lawyer, "and I will call in the morning and 
learn your decision." The question was that 
evening submitted to the family council, and as 
Winfield and Mrs. Hancock were both very much 
inclined in the affirmative, the case was so decided. 
The lawyer at once exerted his potent influence in 
the matter, and Mr. Fornance submitted Winfield's 
name for the appointment, which was made. On 
July i, 1840, being then in his seventeenth year, he 
left home and entered upon his student life at the 
National Military Academy at West Point. Hancock 
had for classmates at West Point, U. S. Grant, 
George B. M'Clellan, J. F. Reynolds, J. L. Reno, 
Burnside, Franklin, and W. Smith. He graduated 
on June 30, 1844. 

Upon returning from West Point, Winfield had 
grown in stature and age from mere boyhood to 
that of manhood, yet he still remained the same 
towards his former chums and classmates, and still 
retained his fondness for many of his old sports. 
One was in constructing old rafts, and going a fishing 
up the Schuylkill. Throughout his long, eventful 



3 2 W INFIELD SCO TT HA NCO CK 

life, he never forgot or lost the respect of any of 
his former playmates. 

Hancock's scholarship was, at least, respectable. 
The preliminary examination then was extremely 
simple, consisting only of reading, spelling, and 
writing, and some knowledge of arithmetic through 
decimal fractions was required. During one 
portion of the year the cadets are in barracks, 
studying, riding, fencing in the riding hall, and in 
fine weather in drilling during the afternoons at 
infantry. From June to September they encamp 
upon the plain, and their time is employed in drills 
of every kind, practical engineering, pyrotechny, 
etc. Hancock had early training and school 
advantages. In this preparation for his work here 
as a cadet he was more fortunate than Grant and 
some. others. W. B. Franklin stood at the head of 
his class. 

Hancock has been spoken of in later years as 
being haughty, aristocratic, and proud. It may be 
his long life as an officer of men has, to a degree, 
at least, made him appear so. Indeed, it would be 
strange if a military life of more than a score of 
years, situated as he has been, would not trouble 
the weakness of most men in that direction. But 
we have testimony to the contrary, and coming from 
officers and men intimately associated with him for 
years. 



HOME AND FAMILY. 



CHAPTER III. 

HOME AND FAMILY. 

HANCOCK'S NATURAL ADVANTAGES — WEST POINT PRESTIGE — ATTRAC- 
TIONS OUTSIDE THE ST. LOUIS BARRACKS — MARRIAGE TO MISS 
ALMIRA RUSSELL — MRS. HANCOCK'S BEAUTY AND EDUCATION — THE 
TWO CHILDREN — DEATH OF ADA HANCOCK — GENERAL HANCOCK — 
THE WHITE HOUSE MANIA — A CRITICISM — THE HANCOCK PROPERTY 
— RUSSELL HANCOCK'S TRAITS AND RUNAWAY MATCH — PROFESSOR 
FOWLER'S OPINIONS OF HANCOCK. 

HANCOCK, upon leaving West Point, was 
favored in some particulars by possessing natu- 
ral advantages over and above that of his fellows. 
In appearance he was tall, well-formed, noble look- 
ing, and in every way captivating in his manner. 
He had grown from a mere youth upon entering the 
Military Academy to that of a man upon leaving it. 
A few years at that time of life is generally the one 
most marked, to all external appearances, that there 
is from childhood to the decrepitude of old age; 
then the boyish face, the beardless chin, and the 
juvenile appearance generally give way to the 
greater claims and prerogatives of young manhood. 
Hancock was no exception to the above rule, only 
in the one particular, that in the budding into this 
new life nature was profuse in lavishing upon him 
a conspicuity not generally given to others. 

Hancock had also hailed from West Point, an 
academy at that time somewhat famous, especially 



34 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

in the West, where he was sent. The advantages 
of such an education were in many respects com- 
mendatory, and it was more likely for a fine looking, 
gentlemanly person, with such a courteous, gracious 
bearing, to win his way into the favors of the re- 
fined and cultivated society of higher life, and to 
receive the homage due his rank, than when in other 
circumstances. 

This was the passport that finally let him through 
that monster gate, and the park within, to that im- 
posing old-fashioned mansion, near the old barracks 
at St. Louis, the beautiful home of the wealthy 
Russells. 

The wide hall, the inlaid floors, the costly fur- 
niture, pictures and scenery of that house, and the 
beautiful grounds without, were probably sufficient 
excuses for the General leaving his quarters in the 
unattractive old barracks and passing his afternoons 
or evenings at that homestead. 

Arrangements all being mutual, General Han- 
cock and Miss Almira Russell, daughter of Samuel 
Russell, of Russell, Bennett & Co., wholesale gro- 
cers of St. Louis, were married in the month of 
January, 1849. 

Mrs. Hancock is a few years younger than her 
husband. Tall and graceful in movement, she is as 
elegant in appearance and genial in manner as the 
General. Every one feels at ease in her presence. 
Her eyes are her greatest beauty, lighting up every 
feature, and making her still beautiful even at this 
age of life. Her hair is fast becoming gray. 

She was educated in a convent at St. Louis, but 



MRS. HANCOCK. 35 

is not a member of the Roman Catholic Church. 
General Hancock owns a pew in Dr. Bellows' Uni- 
tarian Church, Brooklyn, New York, where she 
attends upon divine service regularly every Sabbath 
day. Her scholarship is very superior, she being 
mistress of several languages. She possesses fine 
abilities and accomplishments, natural and acquired, 
and having all the self-confidence of a polished so- 
ciety lady, is enabled to entertain the most varied 
company. There is great ability shown in her con- 
versation. Her general knowledge of the world of 
letters, and of the current literature of the day, 
makes her capable of entertaining a mixed company. 
This, in itself, shows great tact and mental power. 
It may be said of her, as of the General, that she 
has the art of making every one feel free and easy, 
and as if her whole interest was in the one person. 

It would be hard to find one better able to do 
the honors of the White House than she, although 
it might be much more to her natural inclinations to 
remain as they are, as she not only dreads the 
worry and mortification attendant upon a Presiden- 
tial campaign, but thinks that if the General is even 
elected it will be at the expense of comparative 
quiet, purchasing four years hard work and the 
chance of losing his position as Senior Major-gen- 
eral, and that also of becoming Chief of the Army. 

Although even after marriage a society belle, 
the happiness of domestic life to her has charms, 
she states, equally as desirable as those in being mis- 
tress of the White House. In this particular it is 
more than probable that as the General is nominated 



36 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

by one of the great parties of our country to become 
President of the United States, and of nearly fifty 
millions of people (an honor not coming to every 
one), that all her former unwillingness as regards 
renunciations of what she has and may become for 
the high position, will vanish as the campaign ad- 
vances and the grave questions of defeat or victory 
come more prominently into view. Their now 
happy home, unsullied by domestic infelicities, so 
common in many homes even in high life, would 
better preserve its purity outside the range of poli- 
tical intriguery, preferments in office, and the bick- 
erings of exasperated animosities, if fate had not 
decreed their share in either a glorious victory or 
an inglorious defeat. It has come upon them with- 
out solicitation, and we feel that the generalship, be- 
fore exercised in great emergencies, will not be 
found wanting at this late day to vindicate the 
honor and trust confided to their hands. The no- 
bility of the man, the kindliness of his nature, and 
his interest in matters concerning others, are virtues 
of the hero, cognizable by thousands upon thousands 
of his soldiers who have long since become stead- 
fast in their regard and friendship for the man. 

The General has been successful in securing 
some property, owning considerable land near Wind- 
sor, Missouri ; Mrs. Hancock inheriting consider- 
able means herself besides; and considering that 
but one child now lives — who enjoys a competency 
on a plantation of his own, " 'way down in ole Mis- 
sissippi" — the cares of the household, in this par- 
ticular, are at ease. 



PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 37 

By this union two children have come as a bless- 
ing to the marriage. We are compelled, however, 
to chronicle the sad fact that the daughter, Ada 
Hancock — the life and attraction of their home, most 
lovely, and accomplished in her manner — was taken 
from them a short time since by death. She was 
eighteen years of age when she died of typhoid 
fever on her island home. The bereavement has 
proven a sore affliction to the General and Mrs. 
Hancock. 

Hancock, in personal appearance, is tall and well- 
formed, growing quite portly as he advances in life, 
and is generally considered a handsome man, being 
over six feet in height and weighing 240 pounds. 
The size of the man alone would attract attention. 
He has a mild, blue eye, gentle and benign in ex- 
pression when in repose, but when aroused by dan- 
ger or otherwise, inspiring in the highest degree. 
His manner is dignified and gentlemanly in every 
way — the very embodiment of courtesy. 

Hancock is of a sympathetic nature, easily en- 
gaged in the interests of others, which he makes 
his own, let those interests be what they may. He 
thus has secured the high esteem and regard of his 
soldiers and subordinates, having the ability to inspire 
self-confidence and self-respect in those with whom 
he has to do. The love of the soldiers for their old 
commander is equal to that of the Prussians for 
their old, plain, blunt Bllicher. Hancock, with all 
his faults, yet with his early mental and moral train- 
ing, stands pre-eminent among men as a leader of 
men, covered with honor and glory. 



38 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

Russell Hancock, the only child living, possessing, 
in some particulars, very pleasing traits, is worthy 
of a short notice. It falls to the lot of some men 
to be ill-natured, bitter, and sarcastic; every thing 
in life, to them, has a tinge of sadness about it, and 
the very atmosphere in which they move becomes 
impregnated by their presence ; every place and 
every thing finds them ready with their venomous 
slime, to poison the happiness and enjoyments of 
others. There are other characters as blighting and 
disastrous in their influence — but we have spoken 
only of the one diametrically opposed to those traits 
possessed by Russell Hancock. One always feels 
the air purer and sweeter when out of the society 
of the one, or when in that of the other. The one 
class will never be admired or loved ; the other, no 
matter what the faults are, will not be hated and 
despised. Breaches of moral rights, or questions ot 
trust infringing upon forbidden grounds, in the one 
case will be forgiven, but in the other, never forgotten 
or forgiven ; and the reasons are invariably attributable 
to the above traits described and possessed by the 
one, or to the genial, warm-hearted, sympathetic 
spirit of the other. 

The clever, good-natured Russell Hancock was 
one belonging to the latter class. He possessed, not 
a courtly smile that would look benignly down upon 
you, but one full of graciousness, that was inherited 
as part of the patrimony, as far back as old Grandma 
Russell, with whom he spent much of his time in 
childhood. In this trait of his one perceives an easy 
manner, and experiences, while in his company, just 



RUSSELL HANCOCK. 39 

such feelings himself; and instead of a whirlpool of 
passion, or a cloudy display of the facial lineaments 
for a difference of opinion, a smiling ebullition of feel- 
ing rolls up. These feelings always, under such cir- 
cumstances, become mutual. These are the pleasing 
traits belonging to Russell Hancock, whatever may 
have been the other characteristics of his nature. 

His marriage was a secret, and it may be said a 
"run-away match." But later years have proven 
that their lives have been made happy by the union, 
that love was at the bottom of it, and that the same 
was therefore justifiable. Russell Hancock was con- 
nected with the house of Newcomb, Buchanan & Co., 
of Louisville, of which Victor Newcomb, the great 
railroad magnate was the head. The young lady's 
father had forbidden the attentions of the young 
man, simply on the ground that his father was a 
Yankee, and being extremely Southern in his views, 
was much opposed to young Hancock paying his 
addresses to his daughter. He even determined to 
take her to Europe that he might the more effect- 
ually break up the match. In all this the father was 
outgeneraled, however. The young couple met at 
a party one evening, and seeing the necessity of 
some immediate action being taken, young Hancock 
proposed that they should then, that very night, be 
joined as one. He urged that then he would have 
something worth while to live for, and that during 
her absence in the East he would do something 
worthy of her hand and copartnership through life. 
To all this she readily consented. They immediately 
crossed the Ohio river, to Jeffersonville, and hunting 



40 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

up a divine, were married, each keeping the matter 
a secret. She returned to her home, and he to his, 
and matters thus remained for some time ; but it all 
leaked out finally, and soon after this all differences 
of opinion on all sides were satisfactorily sealed. 
Russell Hancock is now a well-to-do planter in Mis- 
sissippi. 

In the American Phrenological Jozcrnal of July, 
1S64, the following may be seen: "It has been said 
that circumstances make the man, but we dissent 
from this and claim that a truly great man may rise 
superior to circumstances, and such is the case with 
the man whose likeness is before us. 

" There is an excellent well developed body, a 
capital constitution, large frame, broad, deep, well 
developed chest, indicating large lungs, with excel- 
lent breathing power ; a large heart with excellent 
circulation ; a good stomach with best of digestion. 
These conditions furnish a substantial foundation on 
which to build the whole being of good quality — 
dense, tough, wiry, and enduring. 

"There is no mud in brain or body. 

" General Hancock is broad and stout, rather 
than tall and spare, and the stock of vitality if 
economically used, would be sufficient to last him 
into old age. 

"No disease or indication of it is to be found, 
but on the contrary, high health is apparent in every 
feature. 

"There is nothing stimulated in body or brain, 
and if he will he may achieve any position within 
the reasonable limits of ambition. Throw a man 



PHRENOLOGICAL CHART. 41 

with such an organization upon his own re- 
sources, and he will make his way onward and 
upward. 

"Nothing but perversion, or wrong use of good 
faculties, could prevent him from becoming a leader, 
for he has a spirit energetic, persevering, and 
executive, with a clear practical common-sense 
intellect. 

" Having a well developed intellect with a broad, 
heavy base to the brain, the whole warmed up by 
strong affections and inspired by faith, hope, and trust, 
with excellent power of observation, he would be 
quick to see, prompt to act, resolute and courageous 
to put all his plans into execution. He is dignified 
and manly, nothing of the sycophant here. 

"Such a man bides his time and ultimately takes 
his place at the head, where he belongs. Were he 
a king or an emperor, wrong-doers would find but 
little favor at his hands, while those who were 
obedient to the law and faithful to their trust would 
find both support and protection under his reign. 

"He may take no pride in this statement, but 
there is something of the lion in him. When he 
strikes it is with effect. 

"There is no vacillation or indecision in his dis- 
position. 

"Should he not meet with unforeseen accident 
or reverses we shall hear more of this soldier, 
whose name will be a recommendation throughout 
the world." 

The above is the chart of Major-general Han- 
cock, written nearly twenty years ago by the able 



42 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

phrenologist, Dr. Sam. S. Fowler, of New York. 
His career thus far confirms the doctor's statements, 
and he bids fair to reach the highest honors of his 
country. 



MEXICAN TROUBLES. 43 



CHAPTER IV. 

GEN. HANCOCK'S MILITARY RECORD PREVIOUS TO 
THE REBELLION. 

THE SIXTH REGIMENT — MEXICAN TROUBLES — CALL FOR TROOPS — 
GENERAL TAYLOR — COMMAND ASSUMED BY GEN. SCOTT — SUCCESS 
OF THE UNITED STATES TROOPS — GEN. SCOTT'S FIRST SIX MONTHS 
SERVICE — THE SITUATION OF THE ENEMY IN MEXICO CITY — 
GALLANTRY OF OUR SOLDIERS — HANCOCK BREVETED — ENTRANCE 
TO THE CITY — HANCOCK AFTER THE WAR — IN UTAH — ETC. 

W INFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK graduated 
in 1844. He was immediately assigned to 
duty, with the rank of Second Lieutenant, in the Sixth 
Regiment of infantry and sent into the Indian 
Territory, near the Red River, where he remained 
until near the close of the Mexican War. 

Our readers are generally familiar with the 
question of the annexation of Texas to the United 
States Government. To some it seemed unjust, to 
others not so. The solution Congress gave the 
problem, however, was satisfactory to many, and 
especially to regular soldiers who were educated by 
the Government and whose duty it was to obey its 
orders. After a few battles had been successfully 
fought, President Polk issued a proclamation calling 
for 50,000 soldiers. This was after the march 
through to the Mexican capital seemed to be so 
certain and easy, and viewed as a pleasant pastime, 



44 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

that in answer to this call for volunteers over three 
hundred thousand men tendered their services to the 
Government. General Taylor, in command on the 
Rio Grande, hewed his way successfully from Mata- 
moras to Monterey and Buena Vista, at which latter 
place, with his little army, he completely demoralized 
the overwhelming: forces under Santa Anna. 

In 1847 General Scott assumed command of the 
whole army, having landed with a force at Vera 
Cruz, where Cortez first landed within the realms 
of the Montezumas. General Scott also made bril- 
liant campaigns, and before the Summer of that year 
was over, the way was opened up for a march to- 
ward the Mexican capital, and in less than six 
months from the time he landed on Mexican soil he 
reached a point less than ten miles from the capital. 

It was in the battles which followed around the 
city of Mexico that Hancock took part, and which 
also terminated the war. 

The city of Mexico, situated near the western 
bank of Lake Teyenco, and surrounded by canals 
and ditches, had to be approached through long 
narrow causeways that lead over impassable marshes, 
and the gates at the end of which were strongly 
fortified. Beyond the causeways, commanding the 
outer approaches to the city, were the strongly for- 
tified posts of Chapultepec and Churubusco. Still 
farther away were the batteries of Contreras and 
Santonia, armed with nearly a hundred cannon, and 
surrounded with grounds either so marshy, or cov- 
ered by volcanic rock, that the Mexicans deemed it 
an impossibility for any enemy to reach the city 



THE BRILLIANT DASH. 45 

going past these batteries and strong fortifications, 
Contreras being defended by nearly six thousand 
troops, and Santa Anna had also a force of nearly 
25,000 men in the rear prepared to lend his aid 
when most needed. 

Hancock participated in the first assault which 
was made against Contreras in an army of less 
than four thousand men, and strange and incredible 
as it may seem, the batteries of that strong position 
were on the 19th of August, 1847, carried by this 
little force in an impetuous assault that lasted but 
seventeen minutes. 

The post of San Antonio now being left, in part, 
unsupported, was evacuated by the garrison, which 
was badly cut up in the retreat. 

The fortified post of Churubusco, about four 
miles northeast from the heights of Contreras, was 
the next point of attack. Santa Anna had concen- 
trated nearly his entire army, and here the great 
battle of the day was fought; but the Mexicans did 
not, with all their numbers and natural advantages, 
seem to be equal to the soldierly ability of an army 
of Americans of less than half their numbers, as 
the latter were victorious, and succeeded in driving 
the enemy back upon the city, and upon the only 
remaining fortress of Chapultepec, Hancock was 
breveted for gallantry at these battles. 

The castle of Chapultepec itself is situated on 
an abrupt rocky height one hundred and fifty feet 
above the surrounding grounds. This was still 
more formidable an undertaking. Molino Del Rey, or 
King's Mill, an outer defense of the fortress, was 



46 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

first stormed and taken. Battle was then continued 
during the day on the line of the great causeways, 
and the batteries opened up against this position, 
and in less than two days' time the citadel and all 
its outworks carried by storm, entered the city of 
Montezumas, and the American flag unfurled above 
the walls of the national palace of Mexico. 

These engagements were important and bloody 
encounters. Over a thousand Americans fell* at 
the battle of Churubusco alone ; but considering the 
inferiority of our numbers, and the natural advan- 
tages the enemy possessed over them, it must be 
admitted by all that these glorious victories, small 
as the engagements were, established for our na- 
tion a character for martial heroism which had no 
superior in the annals of history, and no rival in the 
pathway of military glory. 

After peace was concluded, Hancock was among 
the last to leave Mexico. When he was stationed 
near Prairie-du-Chien he was regimental quarter- 
master from June, 1848, to 1849, and adjutant since 
1849. He took part in several Indian campaigns 
in the West after this. In 1849 he was married, 
and in 1857 took part in the Florida war. In 1858 
he went to Utah with his regiment, having been 
sent there to assist in upholding Colonel Cumming, 
governor, who had been appointed to supersede 
Brigham Young. 

The Mormons, as early as 1857, became in- 
censed because their Territory was not admitted as 
a State, and commenced revolutionary proceedings. 
They destroyed the records of the United States 



BRIGHAM YOUNG. 47 

Court for the district, and under the instructions of 
their governor, Brigham Young, their spiritual 
head, they desired to look to him for all laws, in- 
stead of being required to receive the same from 
the Gentile Government. Young issued a proclama- 
tion declaring that he would resist the troops ; but 
when Cumming arrived, Young received him with 
courtesy, and surrendered to him the seal of the 
Territory. This ended the great Mormon war. 
In the year 1859 Hancock went to California. 



48 W INFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 



CHAPTER V. 

GENERAL HANCOCK IN THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN, 

INAUGURATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN — JEFF. DAVIS — RIGHTS CON- 
TESTED — GOVERNMENT PROPERTY IN THE SOUTH — HANCOCK DE- 
CIDES IN FAVOR OF THE UNION — HIS APPOINTMENT AND COMMAND — 
CAMP DRILL — THE NORTH AND SOUTH COMPARED IN OFFICERS, 
MEN, ETC — M'CLELLAN GOES TO FORTRESS MONROE — MAGRUDER — 
THE EVACUATION AND PURSUIT — WILLIAMSBURG BATTLE — HANCOCK'S 
BRILLIANT CHARGE, THE REPORT — DESTRUCTION OF THE IRON-CLAD 
"MERRIMAC" — THE DELAY — BATTLES AT FAIR OAKS AND GAINES' 
HILL — THE FEINT MADE TO DECEIVE M'CLELLAN— THE POSITION 
OF HANCOCK'S BRIGADE — RETREAT TO MALVERN HILL — JEFF. 
DAVIS IN COMMAND — RETREAT TO HARRISON LANDING. 

THE 4th of March, 1861, is a memorable day. 
It was thought President Lincoln would never 
be permitted to take his seat. The Senate had 
been sitting through most of the forty-eight hours 
preceding — although this was Monday — and when 
the session was concluded, Vice-president Breckin- 
ridge resigned his seat for one in the house, and 
Vice-president Hamlin left the floor to take the va- 
cant chair. Embassadors of foreign powers (Dixie 
not included) filed into their allotted space, and after 
the Justices of the Supreme Court and the Presi- 
dential party arrived, the inauguration services pro- 
ceeded, but hailed with no spirit of enthusiasm on 
the part of the assembly. Jefferson Davis, ruling at 
Montgomery, had already selected the members of 
his cabinet — and thus the two governments stood 



THE TWO GOVERNMENTS. 49 

face to face, holding positions so palpably incom- 
patible and opposite in the assumptions of their 
rights that to avoid a collision was utterly im- 
possible. 

Fort Sumter had already fallen. In Alabama, 
the federal arsenal at Mobile was seized on the 
4th, by order of Governor Moore ; also, on the 
nth, those at Baton Rouge, Louisiana; also the 
forts guarding the passage up the Mississippi ; the 
forts and navy-yard at Pensacola, and other for- 
tifications in the seceding States, amounting, in all, 
to some thirty in number, costing the Government 
over twenty millions of dollars, had been seized and 
appropriated before the inauguration of Lincoln. 

Upon the rights of secession and coercion, the 
Democrats of the North stood divided. The sym- 
pathetic party claimed that the right to secede was 
an inherent right, founded in the Constitution ; the 
other wing of that party held to the contrary, 
simply ; while the real object, in the end, by the 
fanatic leaders of the South, was the organization 
of a government — having no idea of a permanent 
disunion, owing to the physical impossibilities, as 
forbidden by the geography and topography of the 
country — but a destruction of the Union existing, 
in order to a re-establishment of one with their own 
ideas of slavery as its corner-stone. 

All these questions were undergoing discussion 
by parties of all sides, and in the disintegration of 
elements that followed, a new party was formed in 
the North, that may be well denominated the Union 
party — for it was now union or disunion, coercing 

4 



50 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

the States or permitting the South to unjustly dis- 
member the Union. 

Hancock was not long in determining this ques- 
tion in his own mind. Although a Democrat, he 
took a high stand in favor of the Union, in pro- 
tecting our rights as a united brotherhood, and in 
coercing the South in the recognition of these rights. 
Five months had elapsed since the secession move- 
ment had begun and before Lincoln had issued his 
proclamation for 75,000 troops, and in obedience to 
this call Hancock made an earnest request to be 
transferred to the East, which was granted, and in 
September of 1861 he arrived in New York. With- 
out taking time to visit his parents, he hastened on 
to Washington, and there reported- for duty, when 
he was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, 
upon the urgent solicitation of General M'Clellan. 
His commission bore date September 23, 1861, and 
his command comprised the Forty-ninth Pennsyl- 
vania, the Forty-third New York, the Fifth Wiscon- 
sin, and the Ninth Maine. His brigade was assigned 
to duty in the division of General Smith. In Oc- 
tober, General M'Clellan found himself in command 
of the Army of the Potomac. His troops, being raw 
soldiers, fresh from the fields and workshops, needed 
to be thoroughly organized and drilled before being 
put into the field to fight battles. In this work of 
drilling the soldiers, the officers of the regular army 
did duty. Hancock's services in this particular mil- 
itary work are worthy of some commendation ; and as 
M'Clellan was notably considered a good general 
in getting ready — and a good ready, even though 



SLOW MOVEMENTS. 51 

it was at the expense of going at all — Hancock had 
ample opportunity to thoroughly drill his officers and 
men in military tactics. 

The North was slow in every movement from the 
beginning — slow to believe the South would secede, 
slow to take up arms against her; and in addition, 
when our Government, ready to make a movement, 
for the want of all military knowledge whatever on 
the part of our President and his Cabinet, the 
blunder of securing a major-general for the com- 
mand of the troops, in lieu of General Scott, was made 
in appointing a commander whose record for slow- 
ness was the most brilliant part of his campaign. 

In every particular the South was more fortunate 
in the beginning. Their soldiers possessed a 
familiarity in the use of fire-arms, and also a genius 
for the art of war. Nine-tenths of them in youth 
went armed, and became adepts in the use of the 
hunter's rifle and fowling-piece. Their officers were 
largely men of military experience, and were ever 
on the alert for favorable opportunities for dealing 
blows. Their army had secured the victory of Bull 
Run, and was proud of the fact that the North 
seemed to lack the ability of brilliant leadership and 
agility in movement that she herself possessed. 

For six months the officers who had received 
military instructions at West Point were turned into 
regular drill-sergeants to teach other officers what 
they in turn should teach their privates. 

A long period of tireless inactivity becoming alike 
monotonous to President Lincoln and the country, 
it was decided to make a move in the direction of 



52 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

Richmond. President Lincoln was desirous of sending 
the army by an overland route by the way of 
Manassas Junction, but General M'Clellan so favored 
the one by water, to Yorktown, then going up the 
river and peninsula as the better of the two, and 
giving for it so many reasons, that it was finally so 
decided. 

For this expedition Lincoln fitted out for him 
113 steamers, 188 schooners, 88 barges, and within 
a month sent him in all 121,500 men, 14,592 animals, 
1,150 wagons, 44 batteries, 74 ambulances, besides 
telegraph materials, pontoon bridges, and quantities 
of other things. Fifty-eight thousand men reached 
Fortress Monroe on the 2d of April, the day after 
they left Washington and before General M'Clellan 
arrived. Another force nearly as large as the former 
one came in a day or so after. 

The sagacious rebel, Magruder, watched the 
landing of all these forces, threw up some works, 
digged some trenches, and with the large force of 
1 1 ,000 men maintained a line thirteen miles long for 
thirty days against this invincible army under 
M'Clellan. The army of M'Clellan should have 
attacked at once. One hour's work would probably 
have driven his enemy from him, probably captured 
it ; but this little force of Magruder's was sufficient 
in its devices to so deceive M'Clellan as to make 
him believe he was greatly outstripped in numbers. 
Magruder kept up his feint for thirty days until 
re-enforcements came from Joe Johnston. M'Clellan 
kept his 120,000 men, or thereabout, throwing up 
earthworks and preparing for a siege. He had 



HANCOCK AT RICHMOND. 53 

from the first been very desirous of having more 
men ; and now more than ever the number of calls 
made almost daily for more troops, siege-guns, etc., 
etc., was truly alarming. Finally he decided to 
move ; this was after reconnoissances were made by 
Hancock and others. He intended to start his vast 
army on the 6th of May, but found the Magruder 
forces had left their trenches on the 4th inst. He 
immediately started in pursuit, placing General 
Heintzleman's charge under Sumner, who took the 
Yorktown road in pursuit. Generals W. F. Smith, 
Couch, and Casey went up the Windmill road, while 
General M'Clellan remained at Yorktown to super- 
vise the embarkation of General Franklin's division. 
Hancock was under General Sumner, to whom 
the command of the front had been given. The 
cavalry advance had warned General Johnston at 
Williamsburg of the pursuit, and he hastily sent 
Longstreet to man the deserted works. Before our 
infantry arrived at Williamsburg night came on, with 
a heavy rain, and our troops bivouacked in confusion 
in the woods. Hooker in the morning- found him- 
self confronted by the rebel entrenchments, and 
from 7.30 A. M. until 4.30 P. M., fought against 
Longstreet, who then had most of the rebel force 
in his charge to fight against him. Yet this unequal 
contest was kept up most of the day, between 
Hooker and the confederate forces, until Kearney, 
late in the afternoon, had arrived, and General 
Sumner, who had sent Hancock with his brigade to 
the extreme right. Hooker assailed furiously, but 
was roughly handled. Kearney was impetuous, but 



54 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

gained no ground. Hancock occupied immediately 

two of the enemy's earth-works on the left, that 
were of considerable strength but had been aban- 
doned. Then, seeing that they flanked the enemy's 
lines, took possession ; but just at this time the 
enemy came upon him in strong force to drive him 
out. He held these positions for some time, but 
finding that the opposing strength was too great, 
he sent for and received assistance. 

All being ready for the feint, Hancock pretended 
to retreat, till the enemy was drawn into the open- 
ing made for them, when, to their astonishment, he 
suddenly brought his troops face about, and poured 
such a volley of shot into their ranks as to throw 
them into confusion. " Now, gentlemen, with the 
bayonet," cried the old Bliicher, and his command 
leaped forward and broke the rebel line. Hancock's 
loss in this engagement, in which he made the bril- 
liant bayonet charge, was less than fifty men, while 
the Confederate loss was over five hundred in all. 

M'Clellan had ridden up in the evening, a dis- 
tance of twelve miles, to see the fighting", and to 
continue operations against the enemy on the next 
day ; but when morning arrived the enemy had re- 
treated. General M'Clellan, in reporting this en- 
gagement at Washington, said: 

"After arranging for movement up York River, 
I was urgently sent for up here. . . . Hancock 
has taken two redoubts, and repulsed Early's brig- 
ade by a real charge with the bayonet, taking one 
colonel and one hundred and fifty prisoners, killing 
at least two colonels, as many lieutenant-colonels, 



OUR SITUATION. 55 

and many privates. His conduct was brilliant in 
the extreme." 

General Wool, commanding at Fortress Monroe, 
took Norfolk, on the ioth, which was quietly sur- 
rendered by the mayor. Also the navy-yard and 
Portsmouth were taken. The Confederates, ere 
they left, destroyed every thing, even the famous 
iron-clad, known to us as the " Merrimac." They 
left about two hundred cannon and other pieces. 

There was nothing now in the way for M'Clellan 
proceeding to Richmond. The land and naval forces 
could operate together up the James River, and, as 
it now seems, would have taken but a few days to 
have planted the national flag on the Confederate 
capitol at Richmond. But in all this, bright as 
the prospect seemed, he had no intention of going 
thither. " This was the route that promised the 
most brilliant results," he had continually urged 
upon Lincoln, for wanting to go to Richmond that 
way, and yet, with one of the best-drilled and dis- 
ciplined armies known, and an enemy by far inferior 
in numbers, he still dallied and hesitated, and dis- 
patched to Washington for more troops! 

By the 16th of May, after the evacuation of 
Yorktown, he had gone to the head of navigation 
on the Pamunkey, and two weeks thereafter the 
troops had crossed the Chickahominy. Yet in all 
the intervening time, from April 2d, he had only 
gone this distance. Magruder outwitted him, with 
only one-tenth the number of men, and held him 
back at Yorktown one month. In the pursuit, he 
displayed his want of generalship by dividing his 



5G WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK 

forces and running them up both sides of the river. 
After Joe Johnston arrived, this general, with his 
quick eye, perceived his weak point, and attacked 
Hooker at Williamsburg. Time again was lost, and 
Lee taking command, and having time to rally 
forces to aid him in and about Richmond, the op- 
portunity was again lost. The chronic fear of not 
having enough men always proved the bane to the 
glorious results that might have been harvested. 
When President Lincoln sent him word that he 
must now attack Richmond or give up the job, he 
had an antagonist in the consummate strategist, R. 
E. Lee, that knew his man and feared not his in- 
vincibles, as long as the national Government kept 
M'Clellan in the command. 

M'Clellan, when within about four miles of Rich- 
mond, again had his forces divided and on opposite 
sides of the river — they were also scattered over a 
very wide space. The Union forces were attacked 
again. This was at Fair Oaks, or Seven Pines. 
The river was unfordable, owing to a heavy rain 
the night before, and there was not a single bridge 
across it. Under cover of a heavy thunder-storm, 
Keys and Heintzleman were attacked, and the fight 
continued for two days. 

The next day, Generals Sumner and Hancock 
made pontoon bridges of their own, crossed over, 
and repulsed the rebels. The last fighting was 
done by the gallant Richardson, which division was 
afterward commanded by Hancock. 

Fair Oaks was fought over again at Gaine's Hill, 
or Cold Harbor. M'Clellan had made the same 



NEAR RICHMOND. 57 

mistake at the latter place he had made at the 
former. 

About the 20th of June he began to move to 
the right bank, and in four days time all was across, 
except Porter's command of about 30,000 men. 
From this point he was going to move on to Rich- 
mond. R. E. Lee had, in the mean time, been 
joined by Stonewall Jackson, and the latter had 
simultaneously moved from the right bank to the 
left of the Chickahominy, as M'Clellan had moved 
from the left to the right of the same river. This 
weakened left, Lee proposed to strike. The first 
attack under Hill resulted in a bloody one for the 
rebels, but the Union forces were unable to hold 
their position, and withdrew during the night. 

The next day the rebels attacked again, having 
about 85,000 men. Porter was pressed, but he 
fought gallantly, having not a man for a reserve. 
Finally Slocum came to his relief, and Porter, 
disposing of forces so as to defend the weakest 
points, was able to hold out a few hours more, 
and thus little by little he received enforcements 
as the Union generals would decide to help one 
another. 

M'Clellan was across the river with most of the 
army, and believed there was a very large force in front 
between him and Richmond, whereas the Magruder 
division of only about 18,000 men was there con- 
fronting him. This division kept up a great show 
of assailing M'Clellan at various points, and, from 
the nature of the country, was enabled to do this 
with impunity — to engage the attention of the 60,000 



58 WIXFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

men of his command while the rebel army across 
the river was unmercifully beating Porter. 

Hancock's brigade lay just across the river on 
the left of Smith's division, which was passed by the 
withdrawal of Porter's men across the river, destroy- 
ing the bridge after they crossed. This was done 
in order to enable M'Clellan to change his base to 
the James River. He then ordered Sumner and 
Heintzk'inan to fall back and protect the rear. As 
Hancock was doing this, Toombs' rebel brigade made 
a dash at him, but was repulsed with severe loss. 
Hancock remained in the rear of the frightened, 
retreatino- forces of General M'Clellan, and was 
attacked savagely and brutally several times in his 
guard duty by the rebels. 

Our men had been on duty since the 26th, and 
when night came on, of the 29th, our loss in the 
Sumner corps was 2,500. A retreat was ordered, 
leaving the dead and wounded in the enemy's hands. 
This last battle was known as that of Savage Station, 
and was fought on the 29th of June. 

The rebel forces under Lee made a forced march, 
and attacked M'Call, Kearney, and Hooker. This 
was on the 30th, and the battle was known as 
Frazier's Farm. Jeff Davis came down to see the 
fray, and took an active part in leading a charge in 
person. The rebel general, Joe Johnston, was 
wounded by a shell, and General G. W. Smith 
succeeded him ; but being wounded, the magnate, 
Jefferson Davis, himself took command. 

The retreat of the Union forces was kept up, 
being guarded by Sumner, Hancock, Fighting Joe 



THE RETREAT. 59 

Hooker, and the fiery Kearney until Malvern Hill 
was reached, when Lee once more tried his skill in 
an attack on the fortification, but was repulsed with 
frightful slaughter. 

In this strong position the forces might have 
rested, and being content as their numbers even 
now were from 30,000 to 40,000 greater than all the 
rebels within fifty miles of Richmond; but M'Clellan 
had no sooner repulsed Lee's attack than he ordered 
a still further night march over roads bad over- 
crowded, in a very disorderly manner to Harrison 
Bar, leaving their dead unburied and many of the 
wounded to fall into the hands of the enemy. Lee 
once more reconnoitered, but did not feel justified 
in repeating at Harrison Bar what he had experi- 
enced at Malvern Hill. Thus ended the seven days 
fighting and retreating of an army that was valorous 
and had every thing within itself to insure success, 
but an efficient commander. Had Hancock, Hooker, 
or Kearney been in command, it would not be risk- 
ing much to say Richmond would have fallen without 
a retreat. 



GO WISFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 



CHAPTER VI. 

HANCOCK AGAINST LEE IN HIS RAID NORTH OF THE 

POTOMAC. 

M'CLELLAN RETURNS TO WASHINGTON — REORGANIZATION OF OUR 
DEMORALIZED TROOPS — LEE'S CONCENTRATION OF TROOPS AT 
FREDERICK — THE PROCLAMATION — ENLISTING TROOPS FOR THE 
REBELS — THE MOVEMENT TOWARDS HARPER'S FERRY — THE BATTLE 
AT CRAMPTON'S GAP — FAILURE AT HARPER'S FERRY — FORCES AT 
ANTIETAM CREEK — HOOKER'S FLANK MOVEMENT — THE FIRST DAY'S 
FIGHT — BURNSIDE'S DELAY — THE RE-ENFORCED ENEMY — OUR DIS- 
TRESS — HARD FIGHTING ON SECOND DAY-i-HANCOCK'S CHARGE — 
HIS HEROISM AND PROMOTION — CONCLUSION. 

THE movement against Richmond via the pen- 
insula was ended, and by every one consid- 
ered a failure. M'Clellan greatly desired to be 
re-enforced to renew the attack by going up the 
south of the James and crossing over at Petersburg 
(the same route eventually ^taken by Grant) ; but 
there was no disposition on. the part of the Govern- 
ment to do this. They had lost confidence in him, 
and ordered his return in haste to Washington. 
This was mortifying and painful to the general, but 
necessary in their opinion, as they probably feared 
that should Lee, with his combined forces, attack 
him when at some disadvantage, there would be 
danger of his surrendering his whole army. 

Everything had assumed a different aspect, and 
also a very critical posture. Lee had thrown his 



FIRST RAID NORTH. 61 

forces on Pope, and his army was now coming in 
confused order into Washington. M'Clellan was at 
least a good organizer, and this work was assigned 
him, which he accomplished throughout in the most 
satisfactory and successful manner. 

General Lee, flushed with success, determined 
an invasion of the North. He naturally supposed 
that if a foothold could be gained on Northern soil, 
having Harrisburg for headquarters, that the pres- 
ence of his army in that section of the country would 
magnetize the doubting Pennsylvanians and Mary- 
landers, and attract them to his standard. Lee had 
concentrated his forces in a measure near Frederick, 
from which place he issued his proclamation ; but all 
the endeavors made for recruiting soldiers in the 
North did not accomplish much, probably only about 
two hundred enlisted, and about that many of his 
own soldiers deserted. The conduct of the rebel sol- 
diery was exemplary. They rarely entered a house 
except by order, never abused women, although 
they were ragged and shoeless, and oftentimes very- 
hungry. 

M'Clellan had command of the army, and was ' 
stationed just north of Washington. He learned 
that Lee had crossed the Potomac into Maryland, 
and had left a force to invest Harper's Ferry, which 
had surrendered through cowardice. This was Lee's 
coveted prize. 

Our corps happened to be near Frederick, but 
Franklin was considerably south of this place, with 
a division of nearly seventeen thousand strong, and 
M'Clellan, instead of marching with his whole army 



62 WIN FIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

directly to the ferry, with orders for Franklin to 
come up as soon as possible, an order was sent to 
General Franklin to relieve Harper's Ferry. His 
corps formed M'Clellan's left wing. General Han- 
cock's brigade was in this corps. 

On the 14th, Franklin, by brisk marching - , reached 
Crampton's Gap, in the South Mountain, just beyond 
IUirkettsville. Before him was Howell Cobb, with 
two or three brigades of M' Law's division. The 
other portion was some miles farther on, operating 
against Maryland Heights and Harper's Ferry. 
Cobb, who had orders to hold the gap at all hazards, 
and every cost, was finally driven out, after a hot 
contest of only a few hours. His force was badly 
cut up. His loss was four hundred prisoners, one 
gun and seven hundred small arms, and a laree 
number killed. Our loss was one hundred and fifteen 
killed, four hundred and eighteen wounded. 

Had Franklin known that he was still in time to 
render assistance at the ferry, he would have hurried 
on, as it did not surrender until eight next morn- 
ing — but he, supposing that it was now too late, 
hastened on to Sharpsburg. 

On the morning of the 14th — the time of the 
fighting at Crampton's Gap — M'Laws was cutting his 
way up Maryland Heights, which was defended by 
Colonel D. S. Miles, of Bull Run dishonor, having 
under his command some ten thousand men. Col- 
onel Miles had disobeyed orders a month previous, 
in not fortifying this place; he had also paroled 
prisoners — sixteen in number — on the 13th, giving 
them orders to pass out of our lines into those of 



HOOKER'S FLANK MOVEMENT. 63 

the enemy, thus giving the rebel commanders the 
fullest knowledge possible of our condition. He 
failed in the performance of his duty, in several re- 
spects, for which he has been severely charged. On 
the 15th, he surrendered — but had M'Clellan, after 
having secured the passes, rushed on to his aid, the 
heights and the ferry might have been saved. 

At Sharpsburg, Franklin found M'Clellan, who 
had forced his way through Fisher's Gap, in front 
of the little village, and the enemy posted, in force, 
across Antietam Creek; and had M'Clellan attacked 
Lee immediately, it would probably have been bet- 
ter than to wait until the next morning, as he could 
have thrown sixty thousand of his men against but 
half of that number — but the delay enabled Lee to 
gather in his forces. 

The passage of the Antietam could not, in 
M'Clellan's opinion, be forced in the face of the 
enemy; but on the 16th, Hooker, on his right, was 
ordered to flank and beat the enemy's left. He 
accordingly went up the river about two miles, 
where he crossed unopposed, and turning south 
struck the enemy's left, gaining some advantage 
and desisting only as night came on. Hooker 
was backed by Sumner, Franklin and Mansfield, who 
were to come into action successively about the 
enemy's center. 

This movement was made in the afternoon, 
about 4 P. M. In turning to the left (south) he 
came to an open field, with woods on either side, and 
also in front, from which quarters he was saluted by 
volleys of musketry and scattering shot ; but he 



G 1 WIN FIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

stopped and formed his lines, and after planting his 
guns on a hill, opened at once on the rebel battery. 

At daylight next morning the battle commenced 
in earnest. Burnside, on M'Clellan's left, was 
ordered to force a passage across the lower bridges, 
but failed to do so until late in the day, giving Lee 
liberty to throw his whole force against Hooker, 
who had been both badly wounded and worsted by 
this time. Mansfield was sent to his right to aid, 
but Lee's left en masse, almost, was concentrated, 
against him, and the troops were forced back and 
Mansfield killed. After this Sumner came up and 
struck the enemy a little to the left of the previous 
fighting ; but being unsupported, he, too, had to fall 
back, but at first gained some ground. His first 
division under Richardson, however, held its position 
in the cornfield. 

About this time M'Laws, who, by marching all 
night, had come up from Harper's Ferry, was thrown 
into the battle to aid Jackson. 

These fresh forces enabled the enemy to make 
some changes to our disadvantage. Walker's 
division was now transferred to their, as yet, 
unassailed right. Hood's force was withdrawn, and 
the fresh forces under Walker and M'Laws 
advanced with desperate energy. 

Our forces, in these attacks, were badly used up, 
and just at this juncture Franklin arrived on the 
ground, and Smith's division, including Hancock's 
brigade, was ordered to carry the ground so long 
and hotly contested. Porter and Burnside had, as 
yet, done nothing on M'Clellan's left. Sumner, 



HANCOCK'S CHARGE. 65 

Mansfield, and Hooker had been beaten in detail. 
Hancock, in his charge, went with a yell at double- 
quick, and the position was carried at a dash; 
the woods and cornfields cleared of their defenders 
and their ground held, and without serious molesta- 
tion. The charge lasted but about ten minutes. 
Burnside finally got across the river below and was 
ascending the heights, where the enemy was con- 
centrating to crush him. At this time Sumner again 
struck the enemy's center. Under him was General 
Richardson, in command of the first division of his 
corps, which, led by him, advanced once more from 
the cornfield, amid showers of canister and musketry, 
and forced the enemy back. In this gallant charge 
Richardson fell. 

From this on Hancock comes more prominently 
into the fight. He was sent to the command of that 
division, and from this time until the Summer of 
1863 his history is that of the First Division of the 
Second Army Corps, but did not receive his com- 
mission as Major-general until November. 

Hancock, upon receiving orders from General 
M'Clellan to take command, immediately threw his 
division into the terrible conflict with redoubled des- 
peration, and thereby inspiring others to do the 
same ; but the great battle of Antietam was nearly 
over when Hancock assumed command of his divis- 
ion. Yet, to his heroism is due the honor largely 
of turning the tide of the contest at that hour and at 
that point. 

Our army in this battle fought under disadvan- 
tages. But one of its corps, and sometimes but a 

5 



66 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK 

single division of a corps, was fighting the whole 
opposing force. Yet the enemy suffered severely in 
the conflict, and would have suffered an entire defeat 
could Burnside, M'Clellan, and Hooker have brought 
their forces to work simultaneously from the south- 
east and north of the opposing forces, and the attack 
made at first without delay. This position was 
finally obtained on the seventeenth, when Burnside 
had crossed the bridges below and M'Clellan had all 
his troops across the Antietam, in front, except the 
reserve corps, of Fitz-John Porter. 

So closed one of the hottest contested battles of 
the war, in which M'Clellan had over 80,000 men 
engaged on our side, and Lee about 60,000, and in 
which from 12,000 to 15,000 men were lost on either 
side. 

Lee did not care to renew the battle on the next 
day, and M'Clellan, after having got his forces in 
better position, being reinforced, besides, to the 
number of fourteen thousand men, should have re- 
newed the conflict early the next morning — but 
Lee's forces had withdrawn quietly, and moved off, 
across the Potomac, leaving us his dead and some 
two thousand of his desperately wounded. 

After crossing the Potomac, Lee moved west- 
ward to Martinsburg, and afterward, not being mo- 
lested by M'Clellan, sent Stuart, with nearly two 
thousand cavalry, on a bold raid into Pennsylvania. 
M'Clellan re-took Harper's Ferry, but instead of 
following up Lee, somehow, began to call loudly and 
frequently for reinforcements, horses, shoes, supplies 
of all kinds ; but finally he advanced down the Po- 



M'CLELLAN BELIEVED. 67 

tomac, moving unopposed down the east side of the 
Blue Ridge (Lee's army moving parallel with his), 
and occupied Manassas. 

M'Clellan was at this time relieved from the 
command, and directed to turn it over to Burnside. 
This closed M'Clellan's participation in the war. 



68 WINFIELD SCOTT II Ay COCK. 



CHAPTER VII. 

HANCOCK ON THE RAPPAHANNOCK. 

BURNSIDE'S COMMAND — THE MOVEMENT SOUTH BY BOTH ARMIES — 
SITUATION OF TROOPS AT FREDERICKSBURG — PONTOON BRIDGES, 
AND THE DELAY — MARYES HEIGHTS — THE IMPASSABLE STONE 
WALL — THE HORRIBLE CARNAGE OF HANCOCK'S CORPS — AFTER 
THE FIGHT — RECROSSING THE RIVER — RESTORING THE CONFIDENCE 
OF THE MEN — CHANGE OF COMMANDERS. 

AFTER our hot contest at Antietam and Lee's 
retreat across the Potomac, toward Win- 
chester, Hancock was busily engaged in harassing 
the enemy, and in making a reconnoisance to Mar- 
tinsburg. M'Clellan having been retired from the 
service, the command of the Potomac was, with un- 
feigned self-distrust, and reluctantly, accepted by 
General Burnside. General M'Clellan, with all his 
faults as a leader in times of battle, had the devo- 
tion of his men and of his officers, who were so 
ardent that any other man, upon assuming com- 
mand, would need to pass through the ordeal of 
gaining the confidence of his subordinates through- 
out, before much could be accomplished. Such was 
the critical condition in which Burnside was placed. 

The new commander accepted the trust, how- 
ever, and commenced preparations for a movement 
down the Rappahannock to Fredericksburg, which is 
the town and seat of justice for Spottsylvania County, 



MOVEMENT OF FORCES. 69 

Virginia, sixty-six miles from Richmond. It is well 
situated for trade, and exports large quantities of flour 
and tobacco. This point was also selected as being 
the one on the direct line from Washington to Rich- 
mond for operations to be made against that place. 

No sooner had Burnside commenced to move 
towards Fredericksburg than Lee, penetrating his 
design, began making preparations for doing like- 
wise. Feint attacks at Gordonsville were made, to 
deceive him in his real intentions ; but after J. E. 
B. Stuart had made a raid across, at Warrenton 
Springs, entered Warrenton, where our troops were, 
and just after our rear-guard had left it. He obtained 
from this movement ample confirmation of Burnside's 
intentions. 

Longstreet's force was immediately moved east- 
ward, and now both armies were looking earnestly 
to the coveted place, as a rendezvous for concentra- 
tion of troops ; but in the race Lee was more 
successful, owing to a little misunderstanding be- 
tween Generals Halleck and Burnside, that delayed 
us in General Sumner's transit across the Rap- 
pahannock. The general had reached Falmouth, 
November 17th — the point just opposite Fredericks- 
burg — but, in attempting to cross the river, was 
easily repulsed, the bridges being burned, and our 
pontoons not yet sent on from Washington — Gen- 
eral Halleck waiting for an order from General 
Burnside, and vice versa — until General Lee had, 
before their arrival, made good his ascent, and con- 
centrated his forces on the heights opposite, ready 
to dispute any attempt at a passage across the river. 



70 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

General Sumner was in Falmouth, opposite 
Fredericksburg-, and Barksdale's Mississippi Sharp- 
shooters were placed in favorable positions in Fred- 
ericksburg for picking off our men, the inhabitants 
abandoning the city. Lee had forces behind the 
fortifications on the heights. Wade Hampton was 
making a successful cavalry raid above and on our 
side of the river, while like depredations by them 
were made by Beale's regiment below in boats. 
Both Hampton and Beale captured some prisoners. 
Such was the offensive position assumed by the Con- 
federates. 

Lee had behind these bluffs an army fully eighty 
thousand strong stretched aloncr above and below to 
a distance of six or seven miles. This was organized 
into two grand corps, the right being commanded 
by the invincible Stonewall Jackson, and the left by 
Longstreet. Of Jackson's corps, A. P. Hill com- 
manded its left, and J. E. B. Stuart its extreme right. 

Burnside placed at our extreme left, down the 
river, General Franklin, and put under his command 
about forty thousand men. This it seems was the 
place he intended the principal attack to be made as 
the make of the land there is more favorable to us 
and less so for the enemy in making its defense. The 
bluffs do not come up close to the river, and the 
ground being decidedly less favorable to the enemy. 
On our right were the grand divisions of Sumner 
and Hooker, with an army numbering sixty thousand 
strong. Hancock's corps confronted the heights di- 
rectly in our front, where three hundred rebel guns 
were advantageously posted on every eminence, and 



FREDERICKSBURG BOMBARDED. 71 

where they could rake every foot of ground by 
which they could be approached. Our guns, from 
the necessity of the circumstances, were posted away 
back on the north side of the river, from which but 
little execution could be done, and, in fact, from its 
distance off, their balls could hardly be made to 
reach the enemy. 

Every thing being ready, General Sumner, No- 
vember 2 1 st, summoned Fredericksburg; but the 
authorities replied that they would resist to the last 
any attempt on our part to occupy it by our troops; 
and the tenacity by which the town was held by the 
sharp-shooters compelled General Sumner to bom- 
bard it from Falmouth Bluffs, where some consider- 
able damage was done to the buildings. 

Our army being in position for immediate action, 
our pontoons were laid across the river. General 
Franklin, on our left, did not have much resistance 
offered, and but few men were killed in the work; 
but in this undertaking across to Fredericksburg we 
lost a number of men — three hundred in all. The 
work was begun in the night by the engineer corps, 
and only about two-thirds completed by daylight 
next morning, when we were exposed to the ememy's 
sharp- shooting. 

After a foot-hold was gained on both banks, two 
other pontoon bridges were laid and the army 
pushed across on the two following days, December 
nth and 12th. 

On the thirteenth day of December Hancock's 
corps was pushed forward to action. The weather 
had been cold, and the ground was frozen, but there 



72 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

was considerable of a fog until 1 1 o'clock in the 
morning, when the mist was dispelled and a bright 
sun appeared. 

To the Irish division, commanded by General 
Meagher, was committed the desperate task of 
bursting out of the town of Frederisksburg, and 
forming into line, under the withering fire of the 
Confederate batteries, to attack Marye's Heights. 
This brigade of Hancock's suffered more than any 
other in his corps. It was composed of the 63d, 
69th and 88th New York, the 28th Massachusetts, 
and the 116th Pennsylvania. It made six frantic 
dashes, which they directed against the almost 
impregnable position of their foe. In this attack 
Hancock's corps were sent up against those 
slippery heights, girdled with batteries, rising tier 
above tier to its crest, all so arranged that any 
attempt to make an ascent would be attended by 
instant destruction ; and to that impregnable stone- 
wall, so strong an artillery could not make it fall, 
there was in front of all those forces, completely 
sheltered, Barsksdale sharp-shooters, a full brigade 
of itself, ready to pour into the charges made by 
our forces the deadliest storm of shot imaginable, 
so soon as within rifle range. 

Braver men never faced death more courageously 
than did Hancock's men on that fearful day they 
attempted to climb Marye's Hill. The rebel guns 
were so carefully trained upon them that their ranks 
were plowed through and torn to pieces. Never 
did men fight better, although to obey orders was 
to be mowed down like grass. They advanced 



FRANKLIN'S MISTAKE. 73 

against that stone-wall when behind it those sharp- 
shooters exposed nothing but their heads. 

And yet fruitless as all this was, it was necessary 
for the success of the battle that the advance should 
be kept up continuously, along the whole line. But as 
it was, it was unnecessary, as the extreme left under 
Franklin, who not only had forty thousand already, but 
also had been greatly strengthened by Hooker, was 
ordered to gain Lee's right, and by flanking Jackson, 
would render his position untenable. But Franklin 
seems not to have understood his order from Burn- 
side, as it was intended, and made but a very weak 
assault, with only one or two of his nine divisions ; 
and when Jackson and Stewart drove these back, 
which was easily done, he desisted altogether from 
making further effort. 

On the right a different state of things existed, 
as we have already noted. The enemy not only had 
the advantage of the hill and the stone-wall, but 
between the rebel position and the sheltering 
position of the town, was a mill-race and an open 
common of a quarter of a mile in width, and across 
this Sumner's men had to make their rush. The 
ground was heavy with Virginian mud, the front was 
also narrow, and the attacking force was formed 
into columns by brigades, so that it was an easy 
matter for the rebels to strew the ground with 
dozens of men at every step they would take; but 
still on our men went, and when great gaps in their 
lines were made the same would be filled by other 
columns ; if colors fell others would seize the flags ; 
and thus they struggled on until the foot of the hill 



74 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

was gained ; but. a comparatively few only reached it. 
And then the dash against the stone-wall — what a 
sacrifice of life was made this day. Night alone 
arrested, mercifully, this fruitless massacre. 

Our day's work was before us ; the stone-wall 
stood ; the rebel front had not advanced one foot. 
Nothing accomplished in that fruitless endeavor, 
save the cheerless comfort of knowing we had 
fought bravely, and that those who fell in battle, 
amounting in numbers to fifteen thousand men, 
could have the consoling fact treasured up in the 
bereavements of their homes and firesides, that they 
had fallen for their country. We must say for 
Hooker and Sumner that they plead almost piteously 
that further useless effort should be desisted, but 
Burnside was firm, and the frightful carnage con- 
tinued until night-fall. 

Every-where throughout this battle on the front 
of the hill, General Hancock was at his post, direct- 
ing, encouraging, and commanding. His behavior 
on this occasion was in keeping with the high repu- 
tation he had achieved. He was with his division 
in the thickest of the fight, leading his men as far 
as it was possible, under the circumstances, for men 
to go, and only falling back when further advance 
was useless and fool-hardy. 

In this fight, as in fact in almost every one in 
which he was engaged, he seemed to wear a charm 
on his life. He received in the "slaughter pen," 
as the rank-and-file were wont to call the position 
they occupied in this fight, a slight flesh-wound, 
coming out otherwise unharmed, though with uniform 



THE FEARLESS HANCOCK. 75 

perforated with the enemy's bullets. In this battle 
Major-general Hancock lost one-half of his com- 
mand, killed and wounded, and his aids were all 
wounded. In all of Hancock's battles he led his 
troops in person. He seemed an utter stranger to 
fear, and could not tolerate it in others. 

At a former battle fought by him we have a 
circumstance to relate that would illustrate the con- 
duct of the man at Marye's Heights. An officer 
who had his men in a tight place rode up to the 
General and said: 

"General, my men are all being killed; may I 
not withdraw them out of the fire a little?" 

"No," replied Hancock. "I hope we may be 
able to advance soon." 

"Then we shall all be killed," despondingly 
replied the officer. 

"Very well," said Hancock; "return to your 
troops, and if you fall you will have the satisfaction 
of knowing you have died for your country." 

General Hancock always obeyed orders himself 
without flinching from duty, and he likewise expected 
others to obey him when under his command. His 
soldiers were devoted to him, and his presence 
among them when in hotly contested battles was to 
them always inspiring. His brigade under General 
Meagher suffered the most on that day. Out of the 
twelve hundred men led into action only two hund- 
red and eighty appeared on parade the next morn- 
ing. 

On the 14th and 15th no attack by our forces 
was made, owing to the remonstrances of General 



76 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

Sumner, Hooker, and others, though, strange to 
say, Burnside had purposed renewing the assault, 
this prodigal carnage, in all its horrors, on the next 
day after the battle and too instead of what experi- 
ence had taught him, on the very point where the 
enemy's lines had proved impregnable, instead of on 
his left, where there was some chance for not only 
gaining a foothold, but in flanking and turning the 
line of the enemy, as was his original purpose ; for 
at this point, had Franklin advanced in mass, as 
Stonewall Jackson feared, and as he should have 
done, the day might have terminated differently. 
But it was concluded to withdraw the sad and dispir- 
ited troops across the river, which was done on the 
night of the 15th without serious loss, allowing the 
rebel sharp-shooters to again occupy Frederickburg. 

After the army had recrossed the river there was 
quite an interval of two months before another bat- 
tle was fought, and during this time Hancock de- 
voted himself to the care of his division. He made 
frequent inspections and ordered thorough drills, 
and did all that was possible to improve the dis- 
cipline and to perfect the organization, and, not the 
least, but the first and last, exalt the spirits of his 
men. He was careful always to see that his men 
were well supplied with food and clothing ; and such 
was his success that in a short time the depression 
caused by the last disaster and defeat was, in a 
measure, by his men forgotten and brushed away. 

The confidence men have in their generals is 
oftentimes very greatly enhanced by the care taken 
of them in all that pertains to their needs in the par- 



HANCOCK AND HIS MEN. 77 

aphernalia of warfare. Sometimes their guns or 
rifles or other accoutrements need careful attention, 
or perhaps overhauling altogether. And when prop- 
erly looked after on the part of the commanding 
officer increases the confidence of his men under his 
command. This was in a very great measure the 
secret of Little Mac's success in securing the confi- 
dence of his men. He always was mindful of the 
wants and necessities of his army. Hancock, in 
addition to this, was also respected by his men as 
being daring and ready to brave any danger his men 
might be called upon to face themselves. 

After the battle of Fredericksburg, Burnside's 
usefulness as commander was at an end. He had 
lost the confidence of the officers and soldiers alike, 
and, like his predecessor, was relieved from his com- 
mand, and the same transferred to General Hooker. 

The enemy, during this long delay, kept their 
raiders busy in every direction. In one of these 
raids a young brigadier was taken in his bed, near 
Fairfax Court-house, capturing his guards and five 
horses. Some one spoke of the loss to Mr. Lincoln 
next morning. 

"Yes," said the President, "that of the horses 
is bad, but I can make another general in five 
minutes." 



78 WINFIELD SCOTT HASCOCK 



CHAPTER VIII. 

i 

HANCOCK ON THE RAPPAHANNOCK, CONCLUDED. 

SITUATION OF OUR TROOPS — PLACING TROOPS FOR BATTLE — THE SHAPE 
ASSUMED — JACKSON'S FLANK MOVEMENT — THE SUDDEN ATTACK — 
THE RETREAT — MAJOR KEENAN — THE FEARFUL EXECUTION FROM 
THE BATTERY —DEATH OF STONEWALL JACKSON — FIGHTING JOE 
HOOKER — SECOND DAY'S FIGHT — HANCOCK'S PROMOTION— HIS TES- 
TIMONY — NOTES OF THE BATTLE — TOUCHING INCIDENTS, ETC. 

WHEN General Hooker succeeded to the com- 
mand of the army of the Potomac, its spirit 
had fallen to a chilling degree ; desertions were con- 
stant, and in numbers appalling. Those absent 
were shown, from the rolls, by desertion, sick leave, 
and otherwise, to be about eighty thousand, in all. 
And yet owing to the efforts of the Government to 
keep its ranks as full as possible, its infantry, at the 
close of the two months' rest after the battle of 
Fredericksburg, was full one hundred thousand 
strong ; its artillery, ten thousand ; and its cavalry, 
thirteen thousand. It was still the brave old army 
of the Potomac, and could, and did, do many fear- 
ful executions thereafter. 

General Hooker had formed a very simple plan 
for attacking and possibly capturing a large por- 
tion of the enemy. General Stoneman and others 
were sent up the river, April 13th, 1863, to cross, at 
discretion, above the Orange and Alexandria Rail- 



A MOVE ACROSS THE RIVER. 79 

road, to capture Gordonsville, then return on the 
Fredericksburg and Richmond Railroad, near Saxon's 
junction, doing all the damage possible to railroads, 
telegraphs, bridges, etc., fighting and harassing the 
enemy at every opportunity. They had gone 
twenty-seven miles up the river, and had thrown 
one division across, but a succession of April storms 
had so filled the capricious stream that it was 
deemed best to recall the troops, which was done. 
They made a new start on the 27th. 

General Hooker, at the same time, sent forces 
below, to make a feint, and draw attention to that 
quarter ; and, at the same time, Howard and Slocum 
were sent above, as far as Kelly's Ford, and crossed 
the Rappahannock at that point, then turned south, 
crossing the Rapidan at Germania Mills, and from 
there moved directly on Chancellorsville. Meade 
and Slocum were sent up the river, after the forces 
below had been recalled, and joined to them, to points 
respectively eight and eleven miles. Couch went 
up to Bank's Ford (not quite so far as the others), 
and there remained ready to cross when these 
should be flanked by the advance of others behind 
these fords to Chancellorsville. Hooker, previously, 
had sketched the topography of the country, and it 
was expected that there would be an attack at this 
place. 

All these important movements had been skill- 
fully masked by a feint of crossing below Fredericks- 
burg, as a battle was naturally expected by the rebels 
still holding the bluffs beyond. One division had 
crossed, but Lee, perceiving the main force not 



80 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

coming from that direction, for the first time suspected 
the real movement of our troops. The force now 
across the river had assumed its shape, somewhat in 
the form of a triangle, with its apex centering- in 
Chancellorsville, and having for its base Howard's 
division. Reynolds was lying along the Rapidan, 
north-west of Chancellorsville ; Hancock was at the 
Wilderness Church, some four or five miles west of 
Chancellorsville ; while Slocum was nearer Howard, 
a little to his left and rear ; and to the right and left 
of Slocum was Meade, to act as guard. 

Thus the triangle was complete, with the excep- 
tion that Howard's right and Reynolds' left did not 
quite meet. In part, from this source, the mischief 
that came near proving fatal to the army ; for when 
Lee perceived the intention of Hooker, he recalled 
Jackson from his position below the heights, and, 
after increasing his force, sent him on a circuit, in 
part to the rear of Howard's right ; here, during 
the night, Howard's right heard the clashing of 
axes and the voices of men, and which was con- 
tinued the next day. Toward evening, Jackson had 
forced a passage through the wood, and, unexpect- 
edly to Howard, when arms were stacked and his 
men at supper, burst out of the woods upon them, 
with terrific yells and so suddenly as to cause a 
complete stampede and demoralization of Howard's 
forces. This sudden and tremendous onset was 
caused by Stonewall Jackson's whole corps, of nearly 
forty thousand, and which in spite of the com- 
mander, swept back our eleventh, under Howard, 
although he used every endeavor possible to form 



THE PANIC. 81 

his men into line — but all to no purpose. They 
came, like an avalanche, toward Chancellorville. 

Hancock's command had crossed the river about 
the ist of May, and had reached the battle-field 
about midnight. In the morning it was out recon- 
noitering for the enemy on the left. They also 
reported from time to time that large bodies of 
rebels were moving in the direction of Howard's 
extreme right; but no attention was paid to the 
rumors, and when the disaster came, Hancock's men 
were so exposed as to be under the necessity of 
fighting his division in both directions. Although 
constantly attacked his troops held their position to 
the last, and formed the rear guard in moving off the 
field. 

Never were men so panic-stricken as that of the 
Eleventh Corps, and in their retreat the demoralizing 
effect became contagious to such a degree it was 
feared the whole army would become routed. The 
panic-stricken soldiers had reached Chancellorsville, 
and many beyond, before it was finally arrested. 
Sickles had intended to strike a blow, and for that 
purpose had permission to call upon Howard for 
re-enforcements, when, to his utter amazement, he 
learned that Howard's corps was totally demolished. 
He at first refused to believe it, but he soon learned 
that the enemy had not only dispersed the corps, 
but that they were between him and head-quarters. 
He decided then and there to stop their advance. 
It was now just after dusk, and his battery was 
in the edge of the wood. He immediately turned 
his guns to the rear, and, turning to Major Keenan, 



82 WTXFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK 

Eighth Pennsylvania, said, "You must charge into 
these woods with your regiment, and hold the enemy 
until I can get some of these guns into position. 
You must do it at whatever cost." 

Major Keenan replied that he would, but knew 
the order was his death-warrant. With five hundred 
men to arrest the progress of twenty-five thousand, 
headed by such a leader as Stonewall Jackson, was 
almost an impossibility, but it was done long enough 
to answer the purpose intended. In ten minutes 
from that time the major was dead, and the greater 
part of his command lay bleeding around him. 

After the battery of horse-artillery was placed 
into position, his guns double-shotted with canister, 
and trained on the ground two hundred yards distant, 
over which the enemy must come ; gathering up guns 
and flying fugitives of the Eleventh Corps, and add- 
ing these to Sickles, he had them all properly posted 
and double-shotted, he was ready for the enemy. 

The woods in his front were by this time full of 
them. Darkness was falling, but the rebels charged, 
rushing out upon our guns, which opened its deadly 
fire of shot and shell and swept whole ranks of them 
away. Three such charges were thus made, one 
within fifty yards of our guns, which that instant 
was repelled with great slaughter. 

In front of these batteries the veritable, invincible 
Stonewall Jackson fell. His loss to the enemy was 
unrestorable, and equal to a gain of several thou- 
sand men to the Union forces. 

At this juncture Jackson had ordered Hill to 
advance, and then advanced himself to the front, and 



DEATH OF STONEWALL JACKSON. 83 

such was his ardor at this critical moment, to 
ascertain the movements of our forces, that he rode 
ahead of his skirmishers and greatly exposed him- 
self to fire. One of his staff remarked at the time 
it was dangerous, and said, "General, don't you 
think this is the wrong place for you?" He replied 
quickly, "The danger is all over, the enemy is 
routed. Go back and tell A. P. Hill to press right 
on." But soon after giving this order he turned, 
and accompanied by his staff and escort, rode back 
at a trot toward his own men. 

It was now between 9 and 10 o'clock at night, 
and in his return his little body of horsemen was 
mistaken for a Federal cavalry, and a volley was 
fired into them, fatally wounding Jackson, and sev- 
erely so others of his staff. He received in all three 
shots. When he fell from his old sorrel horse he 
said he was shot by his own men. 

The firing was responded to by the Union forces, 
and in making a charge immediately afterwards did 
so over his body, but not knowing it at the time. 
They returned as they came, and he was rescued. 
Attentive hands placed him upon a litter, and two 
were bearing him off when one of the litter bearers 
was shot, letting the general fall from the shoulders 
of the men and thereby producing a severe contu- 
sion, which, added to his other injuries received, 
made it all the more painful. Eight days afterwards, 
on the 10th of May, he died, and his remains were 
taken to Lexington, Va., his home. An incident will 
illustrate the same thing of Fighting Joe Hooker, as 
he is called, in this connection. When the panic 



84 WIXFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

had become overwhelming, and the officers found it 
impossible to arrest the progress, Fighting Joe was 
every win re, using his best endeavors to stem the 
tide and form the men into line. Beyond Chancel- 
lorsville Hooker had arrested most of the Eleventh 
Corps, yet some seven or eight artillery guns of that 
corps went thundering down the road towards Fred- 
ericksburg. About one-half way down from Dow- 
dall was a stone wall, and Hooker, perceiving that 
they were making for the gate in that, putting spurs 
to his horse, he reached there first, and, with sword 
drawn and revolver in hand, he threatened to shoot 
any rider who would attempt to open the gate. 
The guns were soon turned and the men formed 
into line and turned in opposite direction upon the 
enemy. 

On Sunday morning Jackson's corps, now com- 
manded by Stuart, attacked Sickles with desperate 
fury and drove him back, Hooker had then reformed 
his line. In the mean time Sedgwick had carried 
the heights at Fredericksburg and was forcing the 
enemy back. 

While this fight was going on, strange as it may 
seem, Hooker's men, a force of sixty thousand, lay 
as still as the grave, and in no way rendered assist- 
ance to the needed help that Sedgwick so much 
craved. On Wednesday morning Hooker recrossed 
the river. 

Soon after Couch withdrawing, Hancock was 
promoted to the command of the second corps, and 
kept that position until the close of the war. Soon 
after his promotion Lincoln confirmed it, and from 



HANCOCK'S STATEMENT. 85 

that day on, whenever his command was found in 
battle, there also was Hancock to be found leading 
the charge. In General Hancock's testimony he 
describes the retirement of our army from Chancel- 
lorsville. 

" My position was on the other side of the Chan- 
cellor house, and I had a fair view of this battle, 
although my troops were facing and fighting the 
other way. The first lines referred to finally melted 
away, and the whole front appeared to pass out. 
First the Third Corps went out, then the Twelfth 
Corps, after fighting a long time, and there was 
nothing left on that part of the line but my own di- 
vision, that is, on that extreme point of the line on 
the side of the Chancellor house, toward the enemy. 
I was directed to hold that position until a change 
of line of battle could be made, and was to hold it 
until I was notified that all the other troops had 
gotten off. This necessitated my fighting for a time 
both ways. I had two lines of battle, one facing 
towards Fredericskburg and the other line behind 
that. And I had to face about the troops in the 
rear line so as to be ready for the enemy in that 
direction, who were coming on. I had a good deal 
of artillery, and although the enemy massed their 
infantry in the woods, very near me, and attempted 
to advance, and always held a very threatening atti- 
tude, I judged they had exhausted their troops so 
much that they dared not attack me, although I 
remained there for some time alone in this position 
very heavily engaged with artillery all the time, and 
some of my men in the rear line occasionally being 



86 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

shot by their infantry at a distance of several hun- 
dred yards. There was no forcible attack on me, 
and when the time came I marched off to my new 
position, probably three-quarters of a mile from my 
old position, towards the United States Ford, where 
the new line of battle was laid out. 

"We commenced to fortify that position by 
throwing up rifle-pits immediately, and held it until 
we recrossed the river. In the mean time we had 
given up all those great roads connecting with Fred- 
ericksburg. The enemy took possession of the belt 
of woods between us and those roads, and held us 
in the open space and commenced using the roads 
we had abandoned, and marched down and attacked 
Sedgwick, as it proved afterwards." 

The above report of Hancock has reference to 
Sedgwick's uncomfortable position. It was stated 
that Hooker sent him no aid when in distress, after 
a call for it was made. Major Tremaine, who bore 
this message, found the general stunned and sense- 
less. He was in the Chancellor house, where a 
cannon-ball had struck one of its pillars, against 
which he was leaning, and hurled him to the ground. 
He was supposed to be dead — so that Tremaine 
could get no order from him to Sickles, who, in the 
mean time, being sore in need of men and ammunition, 
was obliged to recede to his second line of defense. 
Sickles believes that had help been sent victory 
would have been won ; as it was, nothing had been 
done to save him, except that French and Hancock, 
with two divisions, had charged the left of the 
enemy's attacking force. 



INCIDENTS OF BATTLE. 87 

Thus closed another great battle, in which each 
side lost about seventeen thousand men. We give, 
in this connection, an incident or two of this battle, 
as they relate to Hancock. Officer Bradley's reg- 
iment was on the right of the line, a battery of artil- 
lery on the left. The rebels set to work at the 
battery, and it rained such a shower of shot and 
shell upon it that many of the gunners were killed, 
and many driven away. General Hancock rode up 
among the infantry, and called for volunteers to man 
the guns. Officers Bradley and others came for- 
ward ; General Hancock rode at their head through 
the fire. He was the picture of manly beauty and 
strength — O superb man! It was impossible that 
horse and rider should escape, and the former went 
down. Its gallant leader seemed deeply affected. 
He looked for a moment, to see if his animal 
was fatally hurt, and then, stooping, quickly and 
passionately kissed the faithful animal. Brushing 
his hand across his eyes: " To the guns, boys," and 
remained on foot, at the rear and head of the men, 
until every gun was once more sighted, and pointing 
his death-dealing missiles at the enemy. 

Another incident is related of General Hancock. 
In one of his battles, General Hancock placed one 
of his brigades in a certain position, and said to its 
commander: "General, whatever happens, I want 
you to hold this ground." The brigade commander 
was never very strong on the battle-field, and on 
that occasion seemed to be particularly weak and 
anxious, and as the General turned to ride away to 
another part of the field, he followed him a short 



88 W1XFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

distance, and called out: "General, where are my 
reserves?" General Hancock, turned, and riding 
up to where the officer was standing, said severely : 
"General, it is none of your business where your 
reinforcements are ; that is my business ; I have 
placed you here to hold this ground ; that is all you 
are required to do, and I want it done, sir." The 
brigade commander returned to his lines, with a sad 
step and a sorrowful expression of countenance. 



THE TWO ARMIES. 89 



CHAPTER IX. 

GENERAL LEE'S RAID NORTH. 

THE TWO ARMIES — GENERAL LEE — THE CONDITION OF THE NORTH AND 
SOUTH RESPECTIVELY — INVASION OF PENNSYLVANIA — THE RESULTS 
EXPECTED — AN OPPORTUNE TIME — LEE LEAVING THE RAPPAHAN- 
NOCK — ROUTE TAKEN, AND ENGAGEMENTS WITH OUR TROOPS — THE 
PRESIDENT'S CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS — EXTENSIVE PREPARATIONS — 
LOCATION OF TROOPS — HANCOCK'S SECOND CORPS. 

FOR nearly one year — from October, 1862, to 
June, 1863 — the two contending armies, that 
of the Potomac and that of Northern Virginia, had 
Iain stretched out on both sides of the Rappahan- 
nock, warily watching each other from either bank, 
in the vicinity of Fredericksburg and Chancellors- 
ville. The army of the Potomac had crossed that 
capricious stream the second time, and offered bat- 
tle, and again, the second time, had been repulsed. 
Their camp-grounds had been plowed by battle, 
their army decimated, and in this sad, dispirited con- 
dition returned to camp. The army of Northern 
Virginia had, on the contrary, been elated with these 
two great victories, and its chief began to look at 
his army as one not easily turned aside from victory. 
He had reason to congratulate himself upon its 
efficiency in the past, in that regard ; yet he began 
to be half suspicious of final results when he re- 
membered that but few more available men could 



9 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

be collected from his already thoroughly-drained 
territory to recruit the ranks of his army. He was 
a general far-reaching as well as far-seeing, and he 
plainly foresaw that with all their victories there was 
a tide of feeling and opposition from the North that 
would needs be checked and driven back, or other- 
wise it would overwhelm his army. His president 
knew that Vicksburg — the key to the Mississippi, 
and its great valley, with all its tributaries, and 
and towns, and forts — was in the greatest danger 
before the invincible army of Grant, and that it 
would only be by sheer accident should it net fall. 
He had also realized, by experience, the dire and 
calamitous effects of a foreign army on home soil, to 
pillage and devastate, and to demoralize its foe, and 
the encouragement it gave to its invaders. All 
these thing's offered inducements for General Lee 
to plant his army on Northern soil. It needed, he 
thought, but a systematic invasion to effect its pur- 
pose. When fixed with head-quarters North, he had 
much to look for and confidently expect. He had 
been victorious over the boasted forces of the Po- 
tomac, and now they had been turned by defeat, 
and their columns dispirited, their generals were in- 
harmonious, their men were deserting, and the time 
of service of many thousands of them was now ex- 
piring. It was an act of desperation, but, if success- 
ful, a victorious march North, with colors flying at 
Harrisburg, would stem the current against them, 
and afford an opportunity for replenishing their now 
depleted ranks. He also knew that irt' Pennsylvania 
a firmly established army from the South would have 






THE SUCCESS OF THE SOUTH. 91 

much more than this to hope for. This people, in 
common with all above Mason and Dixon's line, had 
become, just at this time, correspondingly depressed. 
They had been overburdened with taxes. Our 
armies, as yet, had not achieved any such decided 
victories as would sentence the fate of the South. 
Grant had not yet achieved his victory at Vicksburg. 
Yet Lee saw the danger, and knew its conse- 
quences, while the North was blinded by the long de- 
lays of the successes that were soon to come. Now 
was also the time for the South to strike, when there 
was a disposition to despair on a great part of the 
people North, who had grown so restive under the 
administration of the Government. Operations on 
the sea-coast were frivolous and inconsequential. 
At Nashville, the great army of the Ohio, while it 
maintained its ground, could not advance. From 
the sea to the river our army seemed paralyzed, and 
the opponents of war in the North, encouraged by 
these ominous indications, ventured upon the open 
course of pointing to these two long, bloody and 
unsuccessful years of war, as proof that the seceded 
States could not be subdued, and in loud terms de- 
manded a cessation of hostilities. They also, in a 
way no less unequivocal, denounced the principles 
advocated for emancipation of the slaves, which they 
detested to the highest degree, and which were 
evidently gaining in strength, and ascending in the 
power at Washington. Taxes were not only enor- 
mously high, but all kinds of fabrics were quoted at 
exorbitant values, while our currency was in a dis- 
ordered and unsettled condition — the national debt 



9 2 WINFIELD SCOTT HA NCOCK. 

increasing in an alarmingly rapid rate, making 
it appear that now was the auspicious time to 
make the invasion. Forty thousand nine months' 
men had returned home, and their ranks were not 
filling up. The conscription was pending, and the 
friends of slavery could use it as an engine for pro- 
ducing an entire revolution in gaining their cause. 

The government at Richmond had every thing 
to gain by this invasion, and as much to lose if they 
remained in their own circumscribed domain. Their 
Confederate script was of no value whatever outside 
of their own territory. It could not buy food to feed 
the hungry soldiers, or clothes to cover them ; nor 
were they likely soon to be recognized by foreign 
powers as an independent republic. 

Pennsylvania was to them an inviting field; it was 
both fertile and fruitful. The pasture, rich and 
verdant, stood ready to satisfy the sharpened ap- 
petites of their poor overtasked horses. The State 
was convenient to move upon, and one that would 
afford the necessary relief to man as well as to beast. 
It also afforded an opportunity for a raid unequaled 
in any State in the Union, if it was found necessary 
to simply expend the rebel force in the destruction 
of property. Harrisburg was a net work of rail- 
roads. The anthracite coal-fields of Pennsylvania 
supply the navy of the Union forces for fuel almost 
in toto. These fields lie mostly within a radius of 
forty or fifty miles of Harrisburg, and if the railroads 
were simply cut at that point it would in a great 
measure stop the transportation of coal. Then there 
are the coal pits, could they not be fired? Wanton 



OBJECT SOUGHT. 93 

destruction, 'tis true, that would set the heart of 
Pennsylvania on fire never to be quenched until a 
Mississippi could be turned into the pits, or the 
great abundance of that material forever destroyed. 
Yet what is it,that the necessities of war could not 
sanction? 

Pittsburg is also worthy of attention in this par- 
ticular. She does a heavy business in casting guns 
for both army and navy, which if closed would do 
a great mischief. 

If all these things could be accomplished by their 
armies it would show foreign governments the energy 
and ability they were capable of exercising, and 
might induce a recognition of the Confederacy as a 
nation. Nothing had been done for the prevention 
of such a movement. No defense as yet, if such a step 
should be taken, had been thought of, to render such 
impracticable. No power existed able to arrest such 
a movement once made by this great veteran army, 
except it be an equally well trained and disciplined 
force. 

General Lee, having his forces largely reinforced 
by the return of Longstreet from his devastating 
raid on Suffolk, put his army in motion up the river 
just one month after Hooker had crossed to the 
other side. M'Laws division of Longstreet led the 
march, followed by Ewell, while Hood went up the 
Rapidan. The forces all concentrated with those of 
J. E. B. Stuart at Culpepper Court-house, Va. 

These movements were carefully screened from 
Hooker on the other side of the Potomac, but he 
was aware that there was something unusual, and 



94 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

after feeling across the Rappahannock found out, to 
his dismay, that Hill had been left there to keep up 
the feint and cover the retreat north of Lee. 

Near Culpepper Court-house a brisk engagement 
was had with our forces, who now began to look 
about them in every direction, but not without some 
loss. After this, as soon as practicable, General 
Lee was moving his columns through Sperryville, 
near the Blue Ridge, and from there made its way 
into the Shenandoah Valley, stopping long enough 
at times to make a dash into our ranks, and to 
carry off, or have carried, some prisoners, guns, etc., 
etc., or sometimes to drive back our force, to picket 
the river, or burn a bridge, any thing to hinder our 
progress or facilitate their own. General Hooker, 
of course, was unaware of the real designs, and not 
knowing but that the enemy's forces might concen- 
trate at Warrenton, or perhaps congregate in front 
of Washington, lingered on and along the Rappa- 
hannock so as to keep those places covered, espe- 
cially that of Washington ; but on June 7th Lee had 
reached the Front Royal Road, where, crossing the 
Shenandoah, proceeded to Winchester, though not 
without some considerable opposition and some skir- 
mishing; but Winchester was 'captured by Early, 
and the forces there under Milroy panic-stricken. 
At Martinsburg also some spoils were taken. 

This latter place being situated so near th^ river 
boundary line, between the States of Virginia and 
Maryland, the Government began to be apprehen- 
sive of their danger and the real designs of the 
enemy. They at once made preparations for resist- 



A CALL FOB TROOPS 95 

ing the invasion of the North by a call for troops ; 
but the nation, not yet thoroughly awakened to 
their danger, was very slow in making the required 
responses. The governors re-echoed the call, espe- 
cially Governor Curtin. The President asked of 
Pennsylvania fifty thousand ; New York sent twenty 
thousand ; Ohio, twenty thousand ; Maryland, ten 
thousand; West Virginia, ten thousand; but received 
only from New York fifteen thousand; Pennsylvania, 
twenty-five thousand; New Jersey, three thousand; 
Delaware, two thousand ; Maryland, three thousand. 

This call was soon after supplemented by one 
from the President for one hundred thousand men ; 
but the same was not made until Ewell, with his 
corps, had crossed into Maryland, at Williamsport, 
June 1 6th, chasing Milroy to Chambersburg. Early's 
division impelled eastward from Chambersburg to 
York. Johnson moved northward to Carlisle. Lee 
seems to have meditated an attack on Washington ; 
but Hooker's army kept him at bay, and he was 
forced to move his whole army across the Potomac, 
at Williamsport, the forces advancing from Hagers- 
town, a few miles north of that to Chambersburg. 
Ewell had taken possession of Kingston, thirteen 
miles west of Harrisburg. 

The troops of the Government, freely recruited, 
were put under Couch, at Harrisburg; and Gen- 
eral Brooks threw up defenses to cover Pittsburg. 
Hancock was stationed at Taneytown with his sec- 
ond corps, and every thing was done throughout 
the State to make its defense against the attacks 
of the enemy safe and sure. 



96 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 



CHAPTER X. 

PRELIMINARIES TO THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 

THE STRATEGIC MOVEMENTS OF HOOKER AND LEE — THE ADVANCE 
NORTHWARD — GENERAL MILROY'S DEFEAT — HOOKER'S FEAR — 
HANCOCK AT THOROUGHFARE GAP — THE CROSSING OF THE POTO- 
MAC — CALL FOR TROOPS — THE ENEMY — HOW SITUATED — GENERAL 
HOOKER RELIEVED OF THE COMMAND — THE TROUBLE —GETTYS- 
BURG — HOW SITUATED — DISPOSITION OF TROOPS FOR THE BATTLE. 



AFTER the battle of Chancellorsville the two 
armies remained on the banks just one long 
month before any important movement was made 
by either side. At the end of that time Lee put his 
columns in motion for the campaign in the North. 

Nothing could easily escape Hooker's vigilance, 
but it seemed impossible for him to divine the mean- 
ing of Lee's movement, and could give no informa- 
tion satisfactory to the authorities at Washington; 
but he was well assured in his own mind that im- 
portant movements were being made in some direc- 
tion, and in his judgment it would be well for all to 
be watchful. 

Buford was sent up the river to keep some 
raiders driven back across the Rappahannock. The 
two opposing forces had so long sallied back and 
forth, each on his own side, that they began to look 
at the stream as a boundary line across which 



MO VEMENT NOB TH. 9 7 

neither had any right to pass ; but Hooker, wishing 
to ascertain something definite, ventured from time 
to time men over the river ; but as these never 
returned he could only suppose in the case. Their 
movement in the direction of Culpepper Court-house 
led him to conclude that there was a strong prob- 
ability of Lee making another attempt to invade 
Pennsylvania; but of this he was not certain until 
the twelfth, and that the strong force below at Fred- 
ericksburg, under Hill, was but a feint. He accord- 
ingly withdrew the sixth, and placed the Union army 
in columns for the chase. 

General Reynolds assumed command of the right 
wing and all the cavalry of the Union army, and was 
to proceed to Manassas, keeping to the right of the 
Rappahannock, but describing in the movement 
such an arc as would as much as possible cover 
Washington. Hancock, with his second corps, was 
placed on the left. 

Lee, in his movement through the valley, de- 
stroyed the Ohio and Baltimore Railroad. General 
Milroy had been stationed at Winchester with a 
force of seventy-five thousand men, not enough to 
impede an army of nearly one hundred thousand 
under a Lee, but a sufficient number to make an 
affray quite interesting; and also General Tyler had 
a force of ten thousand at Harper's Ferry. General 
Milroy had never been informed by General Halleck 
of Lee's raid, and when he was first struck by his 
full force he made such resistance as possible, but 
all his guns and many of his men were captured. 
Sixty thousand men being on his front, he decided 

7 



98 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

to cut his way out, as resistance was useless. He 
then spiked his guns and left all his trains ; but, 
meeting a heavy force under Johnson near Martins- 
burg, he was badly cut up. The half of his army was 
killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. 

General Hooker, fearful that this powerful move- 
ment north might terminate only in a feint, and 
Lee turn soon and come back, sent General Han- 
cock with the second corps to Thoroughfare Gap, 
in the Blue Ridge, and the fifth corps, with cavalry, 
to Aldie, that Washington might be better protected 
from his ravages if any attempt was made in that 
direction ; but it soon became very apparent to 
Hooker that Lee would not cross the Potomac for 
an eastern raid, but proceed as far north as the 
army of the Potomac would allow. 

Thus the armies of Hooker and Lee kept pace 
one with the other in the march north, with only a 
mountain range between them. When Maryland 
was reached, a crossing at Williamsport followed by 
a concentration of the rebels in Hagerstown just a 
little north of that. The people of Maryland now 
began to realize the danger of an invading foe. 
Their fields and stock and orchards were alike sub- 
ject to the hungry whim and fancy of the invaders. 

The Government immediately called for volun- 
teers, and placed them when raised in suitable posi- 
tions for assistance against the attacks of the enemy. 
Couch was stationed at Harrisburg, T. H. Brooks 
at Pittsburg. Each of these major-generals, at the 
head of their respective departments, took charge of 
the militia organizations. 



REBEL SOLDIERS. 99 

The President's repeated call, in which he asked 
for one hundred thousand men, and Governor 
Curtin's timely aid in appealing to the citizens of 
Pennsylvania, both white and colored, had the de- 
sired effect of raising an army sufficient to meet and 
successfully oppose the invaders ; but this all took 
time, as the North was slow to answer the calls for 
troops, it being at that time of the year when manual 
labor was greatly needed in gathering in the harvests 
of grain for the farmer. 

Hooker had been Careful to move his own forces 
in such a manner as to keep his base of supplies 
well protected and Washington covered, also to keep 
the enemy west of the Potomac, until the bend at 
Williamsport made it necessary for him to cross in 
order to go north. The rebel forces having dis- 
posed themselves at different points, some at 
Chambersburg, where Lee's head-quarters were, 
Ewell was at Carlisle a little west of Harrisburg, 
the daring rebel Stuart the cavalryman, was at Han- 
over, south of Harrisburg, some here, some there, 
but mostly in positions, indicative of a concentration 
upon Harrisburg. 

Lee had prepared for his raid in the way of 
furnishing equipments that were light compared to 
those of our men, a thin woolen blanket slung from 
the shoulder, a haversack on the opposite shoulder, 
with no tents to carry, and not much clothing tagged 
on their bodies as wearing apparel. This latter ap- 
pendage they didn't want, as they did n't have it, in 
fact, shoeless as many were, coats and pants and 
hats of all kinds, shapes and colors and irregular in 



100 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

every way, gave them no appearance of the army 
they really were. Their light trappings enabled them 
to move rapidly, but they were greatly in need of 
more cavalry to keep themselves better informed 
of the position of their enemy ; and when Lee fully 
ascertained this, he gave orders to all his generals 
for a concentration of forces at Gettysburg. 

It was not only decided by Lee, but also by the 
Union generals, that, considering the topographical 
features of the country, there was but one place in 
which a fight could be had, and that place was 
Gettysburg. 

Just previous to this time an occurrence took 
pkce that relieved General Hooker of his com- 
mand of the Army of the Potomac. Hooker had 
ordered General Hancock from Thoroughfare Gap 
to Frederick. Reynolds was to seize the passes of 
the South Mountain at Turner's and Crampton 
Gaps, and take position at Middletown, the object 
being to confine Lee's line of advance to the one val- 
ley, and to have force of sufficient numbers near 
should the enemy turn back from Pennsylvania, 
while he himself moved to Harper's Ferry with the 
twelfth, and thence intended to move upon the 
enemy at Williamsport, there to be assisted by 
French. In order to carry out his designs he pur- 
posed to take the ten thousand troops from Harper's 
Ferry, as the point furnished no strategic value of 
importance. It presented no obstacle to the invaders, 
defended no ford of the river, so he decided to 
abandon the post and transfer the material to 
Washington. This would release ten thousand men, 



TROUBLE WITH HALLECK. 101 

so much needed just then to meet the enemy at 
Williamsport, as he desired. 

After ascertaining that all the property could be 
removed by twelve o'clock that night, he seated 
himself, and while writing orders for the abandon- 
ment of the place, was surprised to receive, at that 
moment, a dispatch from General Halleck, saying : 
" Maryland Heights have always been regarded as 
an important point to be held by us. ... I can 
not approve of their abandonment, except in case 
of absolute necessity." This was after Halleck 
had himself placed the troops of Harper's Ferry 
under his control, which was sent previously, on the 
22d. It reads: "In order to give compactness to 
the command of troops covering Washington and 
Baltimore, it is proposed to place that of the Middle 
Department, east of the Cumberland, and com- 
manded by General Schenck, under your direct 
orders. The President directs me to ask you if 
that arrangement would be agreeable?" 

To this Hooker replied: "Yes; provided the 
same authority is continued to me that I now have, 
which is to give orders direct to the troops in the 
department of Generals Schenck and Heintzelman." 
Under the existing circumstances, to send one corps 
alone to Williamsport was unadvisable, and not 
being supported by Halleck, as he was promised to 
be, and should have been, he telegraphed at once 
to Washington, saying that he had imposed upon 
him instructions to cover Harper's Ferry and Wash- 
ington, and an enemy in his front, of more than 
his numbers, and that he also being unable to com- 



102 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK 

ply with these conditions with the means at his dis- 
posal, earnestly requested to be relieved from the 
command he held. This was granted, and General 
Meade elevated to that position. 

As before stated, Gettysburg was the one great 
point for Lee to control. It possessed, to him, a 
strategic value not found in Chambersburg ; and 
when he learned of Hooker's movements, he de- 
cided to possess himself of that place, as a better 
than the former. The town of Gettysburg is sit- 
uated upon Rock Creek, twenty- four miles from 
Harrisburg, and is the capital of Adams County. 
It is surrounded by slopes and hills, and the rugged 
features on every side completely shelter every high- 
way approach made to it, and like a hub, with spokes 
radiating in every direction. Roads lead out in 
nearly a dozen directions — Chambersburg and Ship- 
pensburg on the west; Carlisle and Harrisburg on 
the north ; York and Hanover on the east ; while 
Littlestown, Emmittsburg, and Taneytown are but a 
few miles to the south. 

Lee had the advantages of all the roads, should 
he find it necessary for a retreat to be made; he 
could also use a better route to his base of supplies 
at Williamsport, should he need ammunition. The 
good roads macadamized, the streams bridged, di- 
verging and running in every direction, was a com- 
plete system already given for the maneuvering of 
his troops or for transporting guns, which was most 
desirable, and sometimes, in extreme circumstances, 
indispensable to the army, for where there are 
roads to cut, timber to hew down, creeks and sloughs 



AROUND GETTYSBURG. 103 

to bridge, the delay is frequently attended by some 
danger. 

Across from Gettysburg, to the north-west, some 
ten miles away, can be seen the South Mountain. 
The soil is fertile, and the country most beautiful be- 
tween these two points. Between the South Moun- 
tain and Gettysburg, is another range, parallel to 
this one, but only half a mile away from the town, 
and known as Seminary Ridge. On its brow are 
located the buildings of the Lutheran Theological 
School, which gives it the name. Other ridges are 
still west, between two of which is Willoughby Run. 

To the south and east of Gettysburg is Ceme- 
tery Ridge, named after the beautiful Evergreen 
Cemetery located upon its summit, by the side of 
which now sleep those who fell in that, to them, 
fatal battle. This ridge is broken and quite irreg- 
ular, but in the main trends along in the same di- 
rection with that of the seminary. 

To the west and south is Zeigler's Grove, of less 
than an acre of ground, filled with beautiful trees 
of forest oak; and back of this for a mile and a 
half, south, is Little Round Top, and its near neigh- 
bor, just in its rear, named Round Top, is a granite 
spur, abruptly rising to the height of some four 
hundred feet. Culp's Hill is east of this ; between 
the hill and Cemetery Ridge, still to the east of that, 
is an open space, one mile wide. 

On the 28th was Sabbath, and Hooker designed 
to give that day to his army for rest, an example of 
regard for the Sabbath unusual in military opera- 
tions. But at dawn of morning, the 29th, he was 



104 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

relieved. General Meade, following out Hooker's 
programme, gave the necessary order, and the Sab- 
bath was once, at least, observed in the army. 

On Monday, the 30th, the orders were issued, 
and on the 1st of July the movements began. Gen- 
eral Hancock was sent to Taneytown, which was 
about ten miles south of Gettysburg ; the third 
went to Emmittsburg, south of Gettysburg, and a 
little west of Taneytown ; fifth to Hanover, about 
ten miles east of Gettysburg; first and eleventh, to 
Gettysburg ; and the twelfth to Two Taverns, very 
near Gettysburg. General Reynolds was in com- 
mand of the first, third, and eleventh corps. 



GENERAL REYNOLDS. 105 



CHAPTER X. 

FIRST DAY AT GETTYSBURG. 

THE ADVANCE ON GETTYSBURG — BUFORD's SKIRMISH LINE — REIN- 
FORCEMENTS — THE RUSH FOR OAK HILL — DEATH OF GENERAL 
REYNOLDS — DESPERATE FIGHTING — THE IRON BRIGADE — THE 
BUCKTAIL BRIGADE — THE CONTINUOUS LINE OF THE ENEMY'S 
ATTACK — THE RETREAT — THE BATTERIES — JOHN BURNS. 

GENERAL REYNOLDS was eager for battle. 
His two corps — first and eleventh — were at 
Gettysburg, and his third corps was at Emmittsburg. 
He kept himself posted as to the movements of the 
enemy through the ever-watchful Buford, and had 
taken up a strong position on the heights beyond 
Emmittsburg on the night of the 29th. On the 30th 
he moved forward a little on the Emmittsburg road, 
but again encamped on ground from which, if at- 
tacked, he could withdraw his forces to the position 
held the night before. 

With him the night of the 30th passed peace- 
fully. On the morning of the 1st of July he arose, 
betimes, having been apprised of the nearness of the 
enemy, and immediately ordered his First Division 
from Emmittsburg, under Doubleday, forward to 
Gettysburg, and sent Wadsworth's Division, accom- 
panied by Hall's Main battery, direct to Gettsyburg, 
after which he mounted his horse and rode directly 
towards the scene of action. He found General 



10G WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

Buford on the west side of the town, defending a 
pass in the mountain at Cashtown. Hill had sent 
Anderson's division forward, his corps comprising a 
laro-e body of men. The evening before, to hold 
this gap, Buford had but three thousand men in all. 
Being well assured that the enemy would attack 
him, Buford lost no time in the morning in getting 
into his saddle, and was making the most imposing 
disposition of his men possible to encounter the 
enemy. 

Hill had sent his corps, a force of thirty thousand 
men, in three divisions, coming from the west, to 
cross South Mountain in order to reach Gettysburg 
in the order of Hill's, Pender's, and Anderson's. 
Anderson was to cross at South Pass, a gap a little 
north of west of Gettysburg. 

Here he met the indomitable cavalry which had 
extended its line considerably, so as to cover the 
ridge (Seminary) and protect the town on the west 
and north, thus covering the Chambersburg road on 
the west, thence around in their respective order 
the Mummasburg, Carlisle, and Harrisburg pikes, 
on the north-west and north, and also the railroad 
(running to Harrisburg) reaching quite to Rock 
Creek on the north. Between his forces along the 
Seminary Ridge, and a ridge parallel to this in the 
rear, was posted his other forces; and covering the 
roads on which Anderson, Heth, and Penders were 
expected to advance were planted the guns of his 
light batteries. His first shot was delivered by the 
enemy at a little before 10 o'clock, the enemy being 
intent upon seizing the gap. He now moved up his 



DEFENSE OF THE GAP. 107 

force, and fired a few single shots, and the great 
battle of Gettysburg was begun. 

This skirmishing was continued for about a half 
an hour, when the enemy brought up his artillery 
and opened up more vigorously. Buford had kept 
up his firing, and gave the enemy in every way pos- 
sible to understand that their force was much larger 
than it really was ; but the fury of the fight increased 
every moment, and the enemy was sorely pressing 
him at every point. It was evident the enemy could 
force him from the field, and he already had made 
arrangements, when necessary to do so, to retire to 
Cemetery Hill, on the south of Gettysburg. 

It was a moment of great anxiety to the gloomy 
heart of Bufcrd, but he was doing quite well. Yet, 
had Hill pushed his forces forward vigorously, as in 
fact it was expected by Lee he would do, and Ewell 
had arrived from Carlisle on the north and extreme 
right of Buford, as the chief of the enemy had also 
expected, and had ordered him on the morning of 
that day, the result might have been different, and 
Buford crushed with his little force of three thousand 
men before help could have reached him ; but the 
dilatory movement was probably all the result of 
that Higher Power that seemed, not only in this 
case of a great emergency to interpose a controlling 
influence, but several times thereafter, on the second 
and third days following, meted out the contingen- 
cies on the battle-field, which, if the same had been 
left to the tactical skill of the enemy's great leader, 
we would have fared the worse of the two in that 
great fight. 



108 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

After Buford had held the pass for nearly two 
hours, and was nearly overpowered, the corps flag 
of General Reynolds was espied, and Buford, glad- 
dened with the thought that then he could hold the 
place, fought on with all the vigor his little body of 
men could put forth. 

Reynolds at last came, and after reconnoitering 
the grounds, dispatched his staff officer to Howard 
to bring up his corps with all possible speed, and 
one to Sickles to dispatch his third corps, and also 
orders to hasten up the divisions of his first corps. 
Reynolds was in earnest, and hurried a concentra- 
tion of his forces to assist in the battle. 

Upon the coming of one division (from Emmitts- 
burg), Reynolds, determining to hasten them into 
the conflict, ordered the more direct route taken 
(than through Gettysburg) there to be deployed 
out through the roads by taking the shorter one 
across the fields. By leveling the fences he soon 
came to Seminary Ridge. When he arrived at the 
front the enemy was pressing the cavalry sorely. 
Troops were deployed to the right and others to 
the left. 

But now the enemy was being reinforced in large 
numbers, also. Hill's force had just forced his thirty 
thousand men through the passes of South Mount- 
ain, in the order of Heth, Pender, and Anderson. 
Longstreet had come in, also, from Chambersburg, 
and having a like number of men under McLaws, 
Hood, and Pickett. Ewell, who was at Heidlers- 
burg, on his way to the field from Carlisle, had 
reached the north part of the city with a large 



THE FALL OF REYNOLDS. . 109 

force, also, under Early, Rodes, and Johnson. 
Heth and Pender struck the first blow. 

Doubleday, who had just come up with a divis- 
ion, was ordered by General Reynolds to attend to 
the Millersburg Road. This was just south of the 
Chambersburg Road. Between Seminary Ridge 
and Willoughby Run (a little creek parallel to 
South Mountain Range, and forming the previous 
line of Buford's skirmishers) there is a little grove, 
a triangular piece of woods, the apex reaching up 
to the ridge, and running its base down close to the 
run. It is about half way between the Chambers- 
burg and Millersburg roads, also. This woods 
Doubleday considered the "key to the position," 
and to seize and hold it was an important necessity, 
as it possessed all the advantages of a redoubt, 
strengthening the center of our line, and enfilading 
the enemy's columns should they advance in the 
open space on either side. 

The Iron Brigade, composed of Western men, 
of gallant soldiers, was started in pursuit of the 
coveted prize. At that instant the position was 
coveted by the enemy, and a brigade of Heth's 
division had also been started after it, and was al- 
ready advancing upon its base. Doubleday had 
detached one regiment to remain as a reserve, and 
the others were to charge into the woods. As the 
leading regiment was approaching the woods, Gen- 
eral Reynolds rode up and ordered it to advance 
double quick and join in the charge. As it moved 
he exclaimed: "Forward! men, forward! and drive 
those fellows out of the woods." He then turned 



110 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

to look for his supports and to hasten them on, but 
at that moment was struck by a ball from* a sharp- 
shooter in the woods, and never spoke again. His 
fall was unnoticed by the troops, who pressed on 
over his body, captured Archer's brigade of one 
thousand men and Archer himself. 

The charpfe was so enthusiastic the run was 
passed and the men had formed in line beyond, but 
as this was too far in advance of the army the men 
fell back to the woods again. 

General Reynolds was an able and devoted sol- 
dier, and his loss was keenly felt. 

General Doubleday was now in command of the 
forces, and the responsibility of maintaining the fight 
devolved upon him. And about this time other dis- 
asters began to fall upon the army. The enemy's 
forces began to concentrate upon Hall's battery, 
and another force on that of Cutter's brigade. 
These attacks were made upon the right of our 
line, and so fierce was the onset that Hall was or- 
dered to retire, and also three regiments of Cutter's 
brigade, back to Seminary Ridge. One regiment, 
under Major Harney, failed to receive the order, 
and remained upon the front until nearly annihilated. 

General Doubleday had his attention now turned 
to this part of the ground, and seeing that the 
enemy were about to crush out his right, and that 
such a disaster would work ruin to his corps, sent 
the Sixth Wisconsin, the reserve regiment, and 
formed it upon the enemy's flank, at right angles 
to the line of battle, and ordered a charge. The 
enemy at once sprang into the railroad cut near by, 



HARD FIGHTING. HI 

to save themselves from this charge, and from their 
sheltered position opened up a murderous fire upon 
the assailants. The Sixth Regiment was rein- 
forced ; the struggle for a time was most desperate 
upon the part of the enemy, they giving signs, at 
times, of surrender, but would still most resolutely 
hold out, and seemed determined, until their purpose 
was changed by a squad of the Sixth being wheeled 
into the cut, upon their right, so as to enfilade their 
whole line, and, being pressed in front, carried the 
position with the bayonet. This maneuver was a 
capital stroke against the enemy, who lost a portion 
of two regiments, with their battle-flags, and marched 
off to the rear. This relieved the One Hundred 
and Forty-seventh, which had been surrounded and 
badly cut up. 

The Union soldiers fought gallantly and well, 
the guns replying to .the enemy with considerable 
spirit and effect. They broke the lines of the 
enemy, captured a large number of prisoners, and 
the ground originally taken was permanently held. 

They could now have retired, and sought out 
ground better adapted for making a defense, but 
Doubleday was desirous of making a more deter- 
mined fight before leaving the field. He was 
anxious to hold the field until supports could come 
up that were expected every moment. The Eleventh, 
Third, and Twelfth Corps were close at hand; and 
furthermore, he felt assured that a retreat taken at 
that time would have injured the morale of the army, 
and would likewise have encouraged the enemy. 

The success gained, so far, was now changed by 



1 12 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

the enemy being strongly reinforced by Pender's 
division. The Union forces had by this time re- 
ceived additions also. The First Corps arrived, 
under Robinson and Rowley. Robinson was or- 
dered to fortify the Seminary with a barricade, and 
hold his men in reserve. Rowley's force was di- 
vided, Colonel Biddle, commanding the left, was 
ordered to hold the Millersburg road, and cover the 
left flank of the Iron Brigade. Two companies of 
Biddle's command were sent considerably forward 
of the front, to sieze and hold a brick house and 
stone barn, and did that work handsomely, but later 
in the day they were compelled to relinquish their 
rights to these grounds, and fly for safety from the 
face of overwhelming numbers. 

The Bucktail Brigade, commanded by General 
Stone, a man of great courage, was posted on an 
open ground to the right — the most critical portion 
of the field. His remark : " We have come to stay," 
went its rounds among his men, in their enthusiasm 
to carry forward the battle, and they each and all 
reiterated it ; a number never did leave that ground. 
His men advanced, under heavy fire of the enemy, 
to take a fence in the possession of the rebels. 
His men fell like grass before the scythe, but on 
they went, drove out the enemy, and triumphantly 
took the fence. 

Now comes Ewell, from Heidlesburg. His men 
were composed of Stonewall Jackson's old corps, 
who had rarely, if ever, been beaten. Their columns 
already deployed, coming upon the field from every 
nook and corner, unobserved, until, finally, for a 



HETH, PENDER, AND RHODES. 113 

mile long they come in solid phalanx, three deep. 
The sight was a grand one. 

Howard was sorely needed ; was expected every 
moment. He finally came, and ranking Doubleday, 
took command. This augmentation of troops was 
counterbalanced by the developments of Hill's 
corps, which had extended their forces on the left 
until that of Ewell's (Stonewall Jackson's corps) 
was reached. At this point — at the spur of Sem- 
inary Ridge — is Oak Hill, rising to a considerable 
height, upon which they planted their batteries, and 
so placed them that they could enfilade the First 
Corps, should they form in line. 

But now the critical time has arrived. Previous 
to this time Buford and the First Corps had borne 
the brunt of the battle. Now Heth, Pender, Rhodes 
and Early had formed a line two miles long, and 
had half surrounded the town on the west and 
north. Thus, with Hill's and Ewell's forces, half 
of the entire Southern army began an infantry 
advance. This was about half-past one in the after- 
noon, they having a double line of deployed battalions 
with other battalions in reserve. The enemy first 
struck the First Corps on the left; next came the 
attack on the Eleventh. The enfilading batteries 
were at once made to play on the First Corps, and 
a division sent to close a gap between the First 
and the Eleventh Corps. This division was also 
strengthened by Doubleday, who ordered Robinson 
with Paul's brigade — his last reserve ; but the gap 
was large and it was impossible to close this angle, 
yet he was enabled to protect it. 



1 14 WIN FIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

Stone's brigade which looked westward and 
northward, did fearful execution against odds in 
number, even assisting Cooper's battery to enclose 
a large number of the enemy, who had been en- 
trapped ; but when the rebels turned upon Stone, 
Robinson, and Wadsworth, the blow was withering, 
and came with deadly effect. They had formed 
two lines at right angles to Wadsworth. Then the 
enemy advanced upon Stone, still on the leit, who 
was near the railroad cut, and placed a regiment of 
his men within that trench, and when the enemy 
came within a very short distance, a most wither 
ing fire was sent into their midst; but on the rebels 
came again. Dwight had now reloaded, and when 
the enemy was nearer still another deadly volley of 
musketry was sent into their ranks. They then 
leaped upon the bank and sallied forth for a bayo- 
net charge, yelling all the while, completely routing 
the foe. The enemy had now placed a battery so 
that the cut could be swept with a shot, and that 
position was released as untenable! 

The enemy now foiled on the left, with fresh 
troops came on from the northwest to strike the 
Bucktail line ; but this was met with the same vigor 
in a bayonet charge as was done before, and the 
rebels again driven back. 

They now try again on the west. Stone had been 
wounded and taken from the field. The gallant 
veteran leader of the first-brigade, General Paul, 
had also been wounded, losing both his eyes, and 
the attack was growing furious along the whole 
line. Our ranks were thin and in a depleted con- 



THE RETREAT. 115 

dition, unsupported, unrenewed and unprotected; 
must some time yield, and it was only a matter of 
time. On came the enemy, and their fires were 
deadly; their guns were well served. Our left was at 
last nearly out-flanked, but still it fought. Though 
the dead fell from behind them, our men stood as if 
rooted, and fought on. 

But it not only waged thus on the left ; Ewell by 
this time had his force en masse and was pushing 
our right with equal zest. Our forces on Seminary 
Ridge not being equal to the strain that the enemy 
could bring upon that point at length desisted. The 
enemy had on the field an overwhelming force, and it 
was intent on making an effort by one heavy blow 
to crush us out ; but Howard greatly desired to hold 
the field until night, knowing that succor would come 
for the struggle on the following day. But his line 
had been so greatly attenuated, it was not able to 
hold out longer. The enemy had placed their pow- 
erful batteries on the eminence south of Seminary 
Ridge, and could sweep the First and Eleventh 
Corps, which compelled them to fall back. Early, 
on the right flank of the enemy, also advanced. 
Some severe fighting was done on both sides ; but 
the Union forces were driven from post to post, until 
the town was reached. 

Until that time the retreat had been deliberate 
and orderly, but after that, owing to confusion 
among the streets and alleys, the retreat degene- 
rated with a rout, and over twelve hundred of our 
men were captured in a very few minutes. 

The First Corps had now been five hours in the 



116 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

fight without relief, yet it stood fast; but when it 
was known that our right had been turned it turned 
and fell back, having to give up the position gained 
by such stubborn resistance. It was brought to the 
rear of Cemetery Hill, on the railroad cut, where it 
defended a battery and held the enemy in check 
from the north, Thus one brigade after another, 
division after division, until batteries, infantry, cav- 
alry, and all had wended their way to the south of 
the town and on Cemetery Hill. The enemy follow- 
ing sometimes in very close quarters, sending in a 
volley of musketry as a reminder of their close prox- 
imity. Of these batteries Steinweher's, located on 
the rugged heights of Wolf's Hill, did inestimable 
service to the retreating columns. 

Between Wolf's Hill and the Cemetery Hill a 
ravine seemed to present to the enemy favorable 
grounds for an attack, which was taken by Wads- 
worth's division and Steven's Maine battery. The 
whole line now threw up breast-works and made 
every preparation to meet the enemy. 

Thus ended the battle of the first day. It proved 
a sad one to the Union forces, but they had held 
the field gallantly along the whole line, contending 
in numbers against them ; had captured over twenty- 
five hundred prisoners, but had lost more than their 
enemy had. The First Corps went into battle with 
eight thousand two hundred men, and came out with 
only twenty-four hundred and fifty. The Eleventh 
Corps had lost half of its number, yet they now had 
a position of great natural strength to fight the 
enemy, and were not yet disheartened. 



JOHN BURNS. 117 

During the morning General Reynolds, meeting 
an old man with hair of grizzly gray, dressed in a 
long swallow-tailed coat, wearing an old battered 
plug hat, who seemed to possess an air of some au- 
thority, asked if he could point out some shorter 
way to the Emmittsburg road than by the one on 
which he had come. This old man was John Burns, 
constable of the town. "Yes," he said, and at once 
ran down a by street, the cavalcade dashing after 
him to learn the route designated. 

Burns had been on the alert to assist in every 
way possible, and was now waiting the coming of 
the troops. He had been for several days watching 
for suspected persons, and had already a number of 
rebel spies locked up in the Gettysburg jail. 

During the fight he addressed himself to Col- 
onel Wister, and desired permission to fight. The 
Colonel asked him if he knew how to shoot? He 
answered that he would show them whether he 
could or not if they would give him a chance. 

"Where is your ammunition?" inquired Wister. 

Slapping his hand upon his pocket, he replied : 
" I have it here." 

He was then given permission to fight, but was 
advised to go to the woods, where the Iron Brigade 
was, as he could there find shelter ; but this did not 
suit the old man, and he persisted in going forward 
to the skirmish line to the front at the fence, where 
he fought as long as the fence was held. When 
that skirmish line retired he was the last to leave. 

John Burns was the only citizen of Gettysburg 
who took part in that battle so far as known. 



118 WINFIELD SCOTT II AS COCK. 



CHAPTER XII. 

HANCOCK A T GETTYSBURG. 

Hancock's order from meade — arrival on the field — disposi- 
tion OF THE DIFFERENT CORPS FOR BATTLE — BATTLE ON THE 
LEFT — SEDGWICK'S CORPS — ATTACK ON THE RIGHT — BATTERIES ON 
THE RIGHT — FEARFUL CANNONADE FROM THE ENEMY ON SEMINARY 
RIDGE— GENERAL HANCOCK'S BRAVERY — THE ATTACK AND REPULSE 
OF THE ENEMY — PRISONERS CAPTURED. 

WHEN General Hancock arrived on the field 
he found that the fight of the day was prac- 
tically over. It was then about half-past three o'clock. 
The rear of the Union column was then in hot pur- 
suit, and the enemy was coming through the town 
of Gettysburg, with all possible speed, after them. 
Hancock had been in the rear commanding the 
army in its advance on Gettysburg, and had reached 
Taneytown — the place from which his grandfather, 
John Hancock, one hundred years before, had 
started to escort one thousand Hessian prisoners of 
Burgoyne's army to Valley Forge — when Meade 
sent him an order to hurry to the front and assume 
command of all the troops there. 

The report had reached Meade of the fall of 
General Reynolds, and of the check and repulse of 
the advance ; and his mind at once turned to Gen- 
eral Hancock as the man above all others best qual- 
ified to replace Reynolds and restore order to the 



HANCOCK TO TAKE COMMAND. 119 

head of the army. Meade knew that Hancock was 
not the ranking" general, but in the critical state of 
affairs he knew him to be the best man, and did 
not hesitate to assign him to that position. 

When the order came Hancock was twenty 
miles away, and when he heard the booming of 
cannon he knew in an instant that it was something 
more than a mere skirmish. He at once put spurs 
to his horse and galloped toward Gettysburg, leav- 
ing orders with General Gibbon, who now succeeded 
to the command, to hasten on with all possible 
speed. General Meade sent orders to examine the 
field and to decide whether it would be better for 
the battle to be fought there or fall back to Pipe 
Creek, or that the remaining force should hasten 
up, and, by rendering assistance, decide the battle 
at Gettysburg. 

Hancock, on his way to the battle-field, met the 
ambulance containing the dead body of General 
Reynolds, and when he arrived on the field found 
the army in the utmost confusion, and after a re- 
treat had already begun. The First and Eleventh 
Corps were largely outnumbered, and although they 
had manfully breasted the conflict of the day, they 
were now badly beaten, and General Howard, who 
had succeeded to the command of Reynolds and 
Doubleday, was powerless in his attempt to stay 
the flight. 

Hancock found himself placed in another di- 
lemma. Howard and Sickles both outranked him, 
and had they resisted this assumption he would have 
found himself powerless ; but as he was an older 



120 WJNFIELD SCOTT TIAXCOCK. 

soldier than either of them, they accorded him the 
right, although he knew that legally it was not 
proper, and that should they choose to resist it 
might have bcome a troublesome matter to meet in 
conjunction with the raging fight on the battle-field. 

As the troops came up, Hancock proceeded to 
place them in position. The Twelfth Corps was 
placed at Round Top. On Cemetery Hill, which 
faced Gettysburg directly on the south, was placed 
General Howard. His men were sheltered by the 
stone walls and houses about the foot of the hill. 
And upon the summit of the hill he placed Stein- 
weher's guns. Wadsworth was on Howard's right, 
also a portion of the Twelfth Corps. The First 
Corps, which had borne the brunt of the fight that 
day, was held as a reserve. One division had been 
placed in the neighborhood of Round Top, and 
Hancock's old Second Corps rested on the crest of 
Cemetery Ridge overlooking Zeigler's Grove, or to- 
wards Round Top. Other commands were placed 
along the line, which comprised within its limit, 
commencing on the south of town, the Round Top 
eminences, the whole of Cemetery Hill and Ceme- 
tery Ridge, and Culp's Hill, a little to the east and 
south of Cemetery Hill. The position our troops 
assumed was in part the shape of a fish-hook, with 
the point at Culp's Hill, the head of the shank at 
the Round Tops, and having Cemetery Hill for the 
point where the bend begins, which, also, was the 
objective point of the enemy. 

After the troops had been arranged, Hancock 
sent back word to Meade that the position taken 



THE MISTAKE OF SICKLES. 121 

was a good one, and assured him that it was well 
adapted in every way for carrying on the conflict. 
His searching glances told him what was necessary 
in an instant, and at once with a clear conception 
of his duties reorganized his broken brigades, 
formed them into lines, planted his batteries on the 
hill, and threw his whole energy into the battle and 
checked the enemy. 

The Duke of Wellington said that the arrival 
of Napoleon on a battle-field was a better reinforce- 
ment to the French army than the accession of 
forty thousand troops. We have also heard of 
other great leaders, whose rated values on the 
battle-field ranged incredibly high. What then shall 
we say of General Hancock's arrival at this critical 
moment on the battle-field of Gettysburg ? Like a 
thunderbolt he came, brought order out of confusion, 
restored the confidence of our half-beaten army, 
after precipitating them upon the victorious enemy, 
and wresting from them a glorious victory. 

Before the next morning the whole force had 
arrived, some of the troops marching most of the 
night, and as they came they were assigned to their 
positions, and when day-light of the 2d of July broke 
there was a force of seventy thousand troops over- 
looking the enemy. 

One mistake was made, Sickles with the Third 
Corps moved his position assigned him nearly a mile 
to the- front, to Oak Ridge. This left a wide gap 
between the Second and Fifth Corps, which blunder 
was at once noted by the vigilant eyes of the enemy. 
They immediately started upon him, turning his flank 



122 W INFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

and striking him on the left, while Hood eagerly 
rushed into the gap to get a position in his rear. 
Sickles made a gallant attempt to beat the enemy 
back, and retire his line to Ridge Cemetery ; but it 
was an emergency in which but little time was left 
for action. In the conflict he lost his leg, it being 
torn off by a cannon ball, and was himself borne off 
the field. 

Hancock perceiving the veteran corps under 
Longstreet making the impetuous assault, and 
knowing that it was an unequal struggle, although 
our forces were led by the brave and courageous 
Sickles himself, sent aid immediately. It was but 
a single division, but all that could at that time be 
spared, and only about two thousand strong. This 
small number was immediately swung into line with- 
out a moment's hesitation. 

The enemy came on two and three deep, double 
quick, with bayonets fixed, and with a pandemonium 
yell, to break the line. The weight of the shock fell 
upon the Forty-fourth New York and the Eighty- 
third Pennsylvania. The forces sent, filed down a 
cross road, leading towards the peach orchard, and 
was but a handful against a force fully five times their 
number ; but they sought shelter on the declining 
slopes of the Ridge (Cemetery) behind boulders, 
trees, and obstacles of every description, and poured 
in the most deadly fire ihe enemy had yet received. 
Again and again with fresh troops they kept up the 
assault, but each time only to be thrown back bleed- 
ing, with open, gaping wounds. Yet they came on, 
and if hurled back, returned again, coming at times 



LITTLE ROUND TOP. 123 

close up to our lines, the assailant and assailed each 
resolved to win or fall, and entered into the grapple 
as a death struggle. For a moment the work was 
deadly, the rebel lines rolling back followed through 
a wheat-field, until the summit of Oak Ridge was 
reached; but across this the retiring enemy and the 
Union forces disputed the ground, and again em- 
braced, each being intent upon the utter destruc- 
tion and annihilation of the other. 

The enemy outnumbered their assailants, and 
was enabled to keep up their line, while Hancock's 
forces fought in squads, or in groups without a line, 
and this gave them an opportunity to flank a 
division into the unfilled gap. 

Our forces now had the order to retreat, which 
was reluctantly done, although necessary to the 
safety of the troops. The Union forces were fight- 
ing- on Northern soil for their homes and for their 
country. Little Round Top was the key to the field, 
the coveted prize both armies were seeking. Could 
the enemy but take that rocky precipice and plant 
itself behind the fastnesses of that precipitous height, 
Hancock, with his whole army, might beat against 
it in vain. 

The rebels were confident of success. They 
had unbounded confidence in their great chief, who 
seldom led them but to victory, and with a remem- 
brance of their success on the first day, and further 
satisfied that one battle-field after another would 
yield, until the "stars and bars" would unfold to the 
breezes in Washington, Philadelphia, New York, 
and Baltimore, and finally throughout the whole 



124 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

North — that, in short, being the grand mission of 
those poor deluded men — for where was there to be 
found one of those barefoot soldiers in his tattered 
gray but believed Lee would do this ? 

These were some of the incentives that blindly 
encouraged rebel lines forward to "Little Round 
Top," and so they fought, and when the Union line 
received its order to retreat that unearthly demo- 
niac yell again went through their lines, and on they 
followed. Plum Run was crossed, one point after 
another was passed, and their footprints finally im- 
pressed upon disputed ground, when, lo! a sheet of 
flame leaps out from every root and tree in the 
mountain, that sweeps down their boldest and brav- 
est and throws them back in the wildest confusion. 
The hill ten minutes previous was such an inviting 
morsel, but now Sedgwick had come. He was 
thirty-four miles away, but by a long, continuous 
march reached the field in time to take his place to 
confront Hood again, and prevent him from filing 
into the Gap and taking Round Top. 

The struggles of the day were marked in stains 
of blood, and many were those who left aching 
hearts in homes once happy by their presence, now 
lonely and desolate ever more. The brave had suf- 
fered, and their loss to the army could hardly be 
estimated. Officers fallen, ranks depleted, and a 
terrible loss sustained — and was it caused by Sickles 
making that mistake? We gladly turn from all 
questions like these to answers that, if it is possible 
to interpret, can be found in his "Thy will be done." 
He who has numbered the very hairs of our heads 






THE ATTACK ON THE FRONT. 125 

surely takes cognizance of such a battle-field as 
this. 

During this contest on the left the right had 
suffered in detraction of their numbers and left 
Culp's Hill, by the withdrawal of so many troops 
exposed to the enemy. Ewell, seeing the nakedness 
of this position, attacked it simultaneously with the 
assault made by Longstreet on our left. The attack 
was made by the enemy at an opportune moment, 
and by the troops composed of soldiers who had so 
often followed under the direct leadership of Stone- 
wall Jackson. Crossing Rock Creek, they advanced 
through the forest over its plateau and rapidly drove 
the skirmishers in, coming under the fire where 
Greene and Wadsworth were posted. This was at a 
time when the battle to the left was raging the 
highest, and no force except that of Greene's was 
left to command this eminence. The rebels ad- 
vanced again and again, and each time were swept 
down by Greene's batteries with swift destruction. 
They approached in front and flank, but were unable 
to gain the prize, which, had they done, would have 
entailed a loss to our whole line ; but the intrepid 
Greene made the gallant fight and saved the left and 
the whole army. 

The rebels now abandoned the attack, passed 
round to the right and to the rear ; but night coming 
on their devastation, too, stopped ; but again, had 
they gone a little farther, they would have espied 
the reserve artillery, ammunition, etc., under General 
Slocum, which they could have captured and caused 
a havoc that would have set the whole army in retreat. 



126 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

General Hancock was at Cemetery Hill. To 
the right there is a little ravine or depression, mark- 
ing the ending of Cemetery and the beginning of 
Culp's Hill. Upon this a heavy Maine battery was 
placed, which played an important part in the fight 
of the first day. Its pieces commanded a view of 
this ravine, Cemetery Hill, and also the approaches 
from the town. Breast-works defended the steep 
declivity, and were taken up by Greene, who carried 
it round so as to command the passage up this ra- 
vine, the ravine itself being left open. 

Ewell had planted a battery on Benner Hill, op- 
posite to Cemetery Hill; and it opened vigorously, 
but was soon silenced by a battery on Cemetery 
Hill, as soon as they could get the range, knocking 
the batteries to pieces in twenty minutes' time ; but 
it was a fearful cannonade while it lasted. Over one 
hundred and twenty-five guns opened up on Sem- 
inary Ridge, opposite Cemetery, and principally 
launched their iron hail upon Hancock's corps. An 
eye-witness gives us this description of the can- 
nonade : 

" The air was full of missiles : streams of shot 
and shell screamed and hissed every-where. It 
seemed as though nothing could live under that 
terrible, withering, scorching, indescribable fire ; men 
and horses were torn limb from limb ; cais-sions ex- 
ploded, one after another, in quick succession, blow- 
ing the gunners to pieces ; the infantry hugged the 
ground closely, and sought every slight shelter that 
the earthworks afforded. The around on our side 
was broken by rocks and trees, so that but a poor 






THE GRAND SIGHT. 127 

reply, in the main, could be made ; but, while our 
guns, being protected by lunettes, were superior to 
theirs, and did fearful execution in their midst, there 
was not, could not be, the literal rain of hail, falling- 
like rain-drops or the fall of hail-stone. Those who 
had taken part in every battle in the war never had 
seen or experienced any thing like that cannonade. 
The oldest soldiers began to be uneasy for its re- 
sults. It was one tremendous roar, such as was 
probably never heard in the Western World before 
or since. Hundreds and thousands were stricken 
down. The shrieks of animals and screams of 
wounded men were appalling. Still the awful rush- 
ing sound of flying missiles went on, and apparently 
would never cease. 

"It was then, when the firmest hearts began to 
quail, the army witnessed one of the grandest sights 
ever beheld by any army on earth. Suddenly, a 
band began to play 'The Star-spangled Banner,' 
and General Hancock, with his staff, Major Mitchell, 
Captain Bingham, Captain Parker, Captain Brenson, 
with corps' flag flying in the hands of Private Wells, 
appeared on the right of his line, uncovered, and 
rode down the front of his men, to the left. The 
soldiers held their breath, expecting to see him every 
moment fall from his horse, pierced by a dozen 
bullets ; but still he rode on, and seemed the very 
incarnation of war, while the shot roared and crashed 
around him, every moment making great gaps in the 
ranks by his side. 

' Stormed at by shot and shell, 
Boldly he rode, and well.' 



128 W INFIELD SCO TT HA XCOCK. 

Every soldier felt his heart thrill as he witnessed 
the magnificent courage of his general, and he re- 
solved to do something that day which would equal 
it in daring. 

''Just as Hancock reached the left of his line, 
the rebel batteries ceased to play, and their infantry 
(eighteen thousand strong) were seen emerging 
from the woods, and advancing up the hill. Han- 
cock knew that the artillery fire had been intended 
to demoralize his men and cover the advance of their 
infantry, which was to make the real attack. Turn- 
ing his horse, he rode slowly up the line, from left 
to right, holding his hat in his hand, bowing 
and smiling to the troops, as they lay flat on the 
ground. 

" Hardly had he reached the right of his line, 
when the men, who, inspired by the courage ol their 
general, could now hardly restrain themselves, re- 
ceived orders to attack the advancing rebels. Eighty 
guns, which Hancock had concentrated, opened their 
brazen mouths, and streams of blue bullets flew from 
the muzzles of our rifles to the breasts of the Con- 
federates. It was an awful day, and Longstreet's 
Old Guard, of the South, melted away like wax, 
under the terrible fire. Of the eighteen thousand 
who came to the attack, five thousand had fallen, or 
were captured on the hill-side. Thirty stand of 
colors and an immense number of small-arms were 
taken. 

" Hancock was every-where, riding the storm of 
battle as if he bore a charmed life. At last, just in 
the moment of victory, he was seen to reel in his 



HANCOCK WOUNDED. 129 

saddle, and would have fallen to the ground, had he 
not been helped from his horse. A ball had pierced 
his thigh, and for a time it was thought his wound 
would prove fatal. 

'''Tell General Meade,' said Hancock, address- 
ing his aid, Colonel Mitchell, ' that the troops under 
my command have repulsed the enemy, and gained 
a great victory ; the enemy are now flying in all di- 
rections in my front.' " 

When the aid delivered the message to General 
Meade, and added, his general was dangerously 
wounded, Meade said: "Say to General Hancock, 
I am sorry he is wounded, and that I thank him, for 
myself and for the country, for the services he has 
rendered to-day." 

General Meade afterward, in commenting upon 
the battle of Gettysburg, said to General R. C. 
Drum: "No commanding general ever had a better 
lieutenant than Hancock. He was always faithful 
and reliable." 

The artillery kept up the cannonade for nearly 
two hours, and then the clamor ceased ; and the 
rebels, with the pick and flower of their army, and 
boasted chivalry of the South, made that famous 
charge. Ewell had prepared his infantry to ad- 
vance ; there was one body away to the right, making 
for Culp's Hill — here a force coming up through the 
town, there infantry coming out from the cover of a 
hill; here comes the Louisiana Tigers, across Rock 
Creek, and the instant they come to view, Stevens, 
on the right, opened all his guns, joined by Ricketts. 
Every thing now wore a terrible aspect, and the 



130 W INFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

slaughter was fearful. The enemy were led by their 
bravest — there were Pickett and Wilcox, and Heth 
and Pender, and Pettigrew, Hays, and Hoke as 
leaders ; with Lee, in the rear, directing- the move- 
ment. They had emerged from the sulphurous 
clouds hanging over Seminary Ridge, and they rolled 
in one more black and terrific than they had 
expected. The slaughter was terrible. Ricketts 
charged his ofuns with cannister, and charged four 
times per minute. Stevens' fire was more effective, 
and swept whole lines coming up the ravine. How- 
ard's infantry, in the rear of the stone wall fired in 
one volley after another, doing fearful execution. 
The rebels believed they were invincible, and on 
they came, from the peach orchard on the left, in 
front of the Cemetery Hill, and on the extreme right 
of our lines. 

Hancock perceived that the decisive hour had ar- 
rived. On our right the attacking columns pushed 
on, struck our line, and charged with the bayonet. 
The hand to hand encounter is short, but decisive. 
It degenerates into that horrible conflict wherein fate 
grapples with death, and the soul sickens in thought 
contemplating it ; but that fight decides it with the 
boasted veteran Jackson corps ; back it yields, and 
with despairing curses, blaspheming, dying, and the 
crisis is past. 

Hancock, on the front, unlimbered his twelve- 
pounder, and threw grape, cannister, shot, and shrap- 
nel. Any thing, every thing was hurled from those 
Napoleonic guns. Each shot sent death shuddering 
and hissing down through those advancing lines; 



FREDERICKSBURG REVENGED. 131 

and the same was repeated, and many times, and 
yet those stern warriors came again, again, crowding 
over their dying and dead, rushing to the conflict with 
the same vigor as before. Finally the enemy come 
within a short distance of Hancock's line, when that 
devoted Second Corps rises to its feet, and smites 
down the battalions of the enemy in such a terrible 
storm of death-dealing messengers that brings the 
contest of the day to a close. 

The rebels now come into our line by the thou- 
sands as prisoners, and Lee has wasted twelve thou- 
sand men for his trouble in making the attack. 
Fredericksburg has been repeated, but the army 
changed hands and the victory reversed. 



132 WINFIELD SCO TT HA XCOCK. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

"THE TWO HEROES OF GETTYSBURG:' 

Hancock's wound — pickett's charge — general lee — a retreat 
resolved upon — john burns — his services in the battle — 
burns wounded — burns' recompense — hancock's absence from 
his command — public receptions — grant promoted to the 
command of the army, etc. 

HANCOCK'S wound had proven to be a serious 
one. It was thought for a time it would be 
fatal. The ball that struck him carried with it a big- 
rusty nail it had picked up in its way through the 
fence on its mission to Hancock. It made an ugly 
flesh wound, but in pulling the nail out he remarked, 
good humoredly, that they must be hard up to shoot 
such ammunition as that. He remained on the field 
until the battle was over, and only retired when the 
victory was won. That heavy charge of Pickett's 
men proved futile. They could, of course, break 
through Hancock's lines only two deep, but they 
advanced only to have their lines completely dec- 
imated, after which they returned to their camps 
sad and gloomy. 

The night of the 3d of July was to them simply 
awful, for sickening was the thought of that day and 
of their comrades left behind on the field of battle. 
General Lee sat in head-quarters, with a flickering 
solitary candle near him. He and Hill, seated upon 



RETREAT RESOLVED UPON. 133 

camp-stools with a county map spread upon their 
knees, were engaged in a low but an earnest con- 
versation. The great chief was in a thoughtful 
mood ; his battle was lost. There was a wrong 
somewhere. It had not been as he expected. Pick- 
ett's men had not been reinforced, as he had com- 
manded, and what a fearful loss sustained. On that 
field nearly twenty thousand men were lost, the flower 
of his army, Again he relapsed into that sorrow- 
ful mood too plainly depicted upon his countenance. 
The single expression of mental suffering escaped 
his lips: "Too bad! too bad! — oh! too bad!" 

A retreat was resolved upon, the pet scheme of 
erecting a government upon Northern soil had been 
exploded. The experiment had been tried at a sac- 
rifice of many thousands of his bravest soldiers, but 
all was in vain. A retreat to the Potomac was 
necessary, and in this retreat he would not go by 
Washington and Philadelphia and Baltimore. No ! 
no ! the way he came, by Williamsport, was the 
nearest, aye, and the safest. 

The high water mark of the rebellion had been 
found the afternoon of that fearful day, on the third 
of July, when Pickett showed the mark, the crown 
of saplings towards which his troops were to aim in 
that errand charge on Hancock. From that moment 
the star of the rebellion had begun to descend the 
horizon, and the great victories heretofore conceded 
to the South were revenged one after another, until 
the final fall of Richmond and the surrender of Lee 
and Johnston. 

That night Lee retired to Seminary Ridge, forti- 



134 W I y FIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

fied it with breastworks, a sealed package was sent 
to President Davis by a trusty messenger, and after 
the sick and wounded had been placed in wagons 
and ambulances together the march began, one 
continuous train of men, wagons, guns, in all seven- 
teen miles long. The wounded and dying were 
huddled together, having but little attention given 
to their cries and screams and invocations for aid, 
while the ranks, in rags and dirt, all clotted in blood, 
went marching back to Richmond. 

Of the heroes who fought at Gettysburg and 
helped to determine the contest which has been con- 
ceded by common consent to have decided the fate 
of the Union and fixed the final result of the war, 
none bears a name more illustrious than Bret Harte's 
"■Hero of Gettysburg" the constable of the town, the 
veritable "John Burns!' 

On the Sunday preceding the first of July, when 
Lee began to marshall his hosts towards that place, 
Burns, whose blood was as blue as patriotism could 
make it, shouldered his musket, and with a very few 
others went out against that great army to stay its 
progress. But Early came on. His infantry and cav- 
alry and artillery was too much for the old man, who 
half believed the whole State would be lost were he 
gone, and showed himself so officious that he was 
locked up ; but Burns had proven his mettle, and it 
was certain he would fight. He had already cap- 
tured a chaplain belonging to one of Ewell's regi- 
ments and one of White's guerrillas, and had them 
under lock and key ; but when he was put in custody 
the defense of the town was given over until he saw 



JOHN BURNS. 135 

Buford's cavalry, which he hailed with satisfaction, 
and by the time Reynolds came to him for assist- 
ance his blood was up, and no one from that time 
on did more effectual work, until he was riddled 
with bullets and left for dead, than old man Burns. 

He had signed no paper for an enlistment pre- 
vious to that time, but simply volunteered his services 
in that struggle. He first assisted Reynolds' men 
to level fences, and showed them the shorter route 
to the battle-field, and then hastened to his home; 
but on meeting a wounded man persuaded him to 
give up his gun and ammunition. The man first re- 
fused, and then wanted to know what he would do 
with it, saying also that he could not shoot, but 

when Burns replied "shoot the d rebels," it 

was turned over, and after filling his pockets with 
cartridges, hurried forward to the Union line, where 
Stone's brigade was hotly contesting in the fight. 

Burns was first asked by one of the officers 
where he was going. He replied that he wanted a 
chance to shoot and take part in the fight. He was 
referred to Colonel Wister, who seemed glad to 
meet an old man glowing with such enthusiasm, and 
told him he might fight, but sent him with the Iron 
Brigade, as he deemed an open field no place for 
an old man like him. But the woods did not suit 
him and he went to the front; he wanted a chance, 

Burns' rifle was unerring, and that day he 
emptied many a saddle, and when he picked his 
man, and took his deliberate aim, he seldom if ever 
failed to hit his mark. 

A commanding officer sent him a fine silver 



l:JG W INFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

mounted rifle, captured in the battle at Antietam; 
besides he had received cheer after cheer from the 
whole line, for a deadly missile he would send as a 
death-warrant to some commander or officer of 
rebel troops, that would be pointed out for a mark 
for Burns to shoot at. 

Thus the day passed with Burns at his post. He 
seemed to be unconscious of danger, and when 
others left the field he remained on duty at his 
post. He was shot in the side, and again on the 
buckle of his belt, that threw him senseless to the 
ground. When he recovered he still had time to 
retire with the brigade; but he remained still at his 
place, and finally received a severe wound, from 
which hemorrhage of blood was so great as to 
almost prove fatal. Again, he was shot in his leg. 
This last shot stopped the paralyzed arm that could 
do no more, neither could he now stand nor retire. 
He threw away his gun, knowing that the enemy 
would have no mercy after he had once participated 
in the fight. With his knife he dug a grave for his 
gun, but when the enemy had come up he had be- 
come insensible, and was passed for dead. 

That night when the dead were collected and 
buried by the rebels, Burns was found and was 
supposed to be dead. The sight of the old gray- 
headed man in civilians clothing attracted attention, 
and upon turning him over they found that his 
body was warm and that he was alive. He replied 
that he was going between the lines that morning 
in search of a girl who lived beyond, to come and 
take care of his sick wife, and that while passing 



BURNS IN THE HOSPITAL. 137 

was severely wounded. They called him a liar, but 
with the remark that he would never harm them 
more passed on. Other parties came, and he again 
told the girl story, but they too disbelieved him. 

He then fell asleep, and in the morning dragged 
himself to a little log house, a hospital, and from 
there to his home; but his own home was now a Con- 
federate hospital and filled with mutilated soldiers. 
A place was made for him in an upper room, and his 
wounds dressed by a Confederate surgeon. He 
was ag-ain asked who shot him, where he came from, 
and similar questions ; he resorted again to the girl 
story, but it did not satisfy the questioners, and they 
then upbraided him as being the man who took a 

gun from a soldier to shoot d d rebels. They 

seemed to be informed, and Burns seeing that he 
was entrapped concealed nothing in answer to their 
questions. The rebels then left the house, secured 
two rifles, and from the opposite side of the street 
took deliberate aim and shot at the old man as he 
lay helpless on his pallet — he surmised their inten- 
tions when they left, and rolled under the bed, while 
they perceiving no stir supposed their work was ac- 
complished and passed on. 

The heroism of old Burns found its way into 
many a newspaper, and he became as noted as any 
of the generals who had conducted the battles, nor 
were they accorded greater honor than he. He was 
received with distinction in Philadelphia, Washington, 
and other large cities. He was the guest of Lincoln 
in Washington, and treated with great respect by all 
the high officials of his cabinet. Congress and the 



138 WINFIELD SCOTT JIAXCOCK 

Legislature of Pennsylvania voted him pensions, and 
gave him a position of trust which he held for sev- 
eral years. 

When Lincoln attended the consecration of the 
National Cemetery at Gettysburg he was very 
desirous of seeing Burns ; but Burns was incredulous 
and expressed a willingness to let Lincoln come 
there if he wanted to see him, but went upon the 
solicitation of others. Mr. Lincoln seemed proud of 
his company and walked with him arm in arm 
through the streets that day. 

Burns had done the work of a single man nobly 
and well. General Hancock, while he did no more 
than his mental strength and physical endurance 
would permit, yet that strength and endurance be- 
came so transcendent in its capabilities, in the sal- 
vation of not even just one battle, but an army, a 
country, and perhaps its government. 

On each of the three days in this great struggle 
Hancock had saved the army. On the first day he 
stayed the retreat and hurled the enemy back. On 
the left, during the second day, he encountered 
Hood in his struggle to get Round Top and a posi- 
tion in the rear, and drove him back ; and finally 
closed the battle and fixed the date of Lee's stay 
North in the repulsion of that desperate assault 
which broke the spirit of the enemy in their last 
desperate attack, at the close of the third day. 
Had Hancock no military prestige previous to that 
time, his being the savior of the army and country 
there would entitle him to all the honors ever show- 
ered upon a military chieftain. 



PUBLIC RECEPTIONS. 139 

The country fully recognized his services, and 
took every opportunity to show its appreciation of 
him. Meade thanked him on the field of battle, 
Congress thanked him, and the people throughout 
the North were profuse in their ratifications of these 
expressions tendered to Hancock. 

After the battles of Gettysburg, it was necessary 
for him to retire from active service until his wound, 
which had proven to be quite severe, should heal. 
On his way from the West to enter the service of 
his country he had not stopped at his home, but 
hurriedly pushed on to Washington. Now he 
seized the opportunity to visit Norristown while 
recovering- his health. And as soon as he could 
hobble on crutches, went to West Point, and, after 
a short stay there, retired to his home near St. 
Louis. 

The long rest of nearly six months healed his 
wound sufficiently for light duty, and then he was 
ordered North to recruit his corps, it being the in- 
tention to increase it to fifty thousand soldiers. 

Every-where he went his services at Gettysburg 
received most gracious compliments from the peo- 
ple. In Philadelphia the common council welcomed 
him in a public reception tendered to him in Inde- 
pendence Hall. It was an ovation the most grati- 
fying that could be accorded to an American citizen. 

This is the hall made sacred by the signing of 
the Declaration of Independence — where Washing- 
ton sat as President of the United States ; the same 
bell that swung to and fro in its belfry to proclaim 
liberty throughout the land on that veritable day of 



140 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

independence ; and there was the same chair and 
desk, and many other relics of that time when 
Washington was there, and when Adams, and Jef- 
ferson, and that learned John Hancock, known 
as the president of the Provincial Congress, one 
of the five select members of the General Common- 
wealth of Boston, a dignity second to none in a gift 
of a free people ; president of the Continental Con- 
gress ; the first signer of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, and afterward a member that framed 
the constitution of the State of Massachusetts — 
were there. In this place Winfield Scott Hancock 
was congratulated, by the people assembled, for 
his bravery and heroism at the battle of Gettys- 
burg. 

Following is a copy of the resolutions passed on 
that occasion: 

" Select anfl Common Council o^ u*te City o^ ^ilaflelpltia. 

"WELCOME TO MAJOR-GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

"Resolved, By the Select and Common Council 
of the city of Philadelphia, that the thanks of the 
citizens of Philadelphia are eminently due, and are 
hereby tendered, to Major-general Hancock for his 
brilliant services in the cause of the Union during 
the present unholy rebellion against the authority 
of the Government and people of the United States. 

"-Resolved, That the use of Independence Hall 
be granted to Major-general Hancock for the recep- 
tion of his friends, and in order to afford the citizens 
of Philadelphia an opportunity to testify their per- 



GENERAL GRANT. 141 

sonal regard for him, and their appreciation of his 
gallantry and patriotism. 

"Resolved, That the mayor of Philadelphia and 
the president of councils be requested to carry the 
resolutions into effect, and that the clerks of coun- 
cils be requested to furnish a copy of the same to 
General Hancock." 

The foregoing will give an idea of the hospitable 
manner with which he was received in New York, 
in the governor's room at the City Hall ; the re- 
ception by the State Legislature at Albany, New 
York, and in Boston, and other places. He also 
received a magnificently mounted sword from the 
Mississippi Sanitary Fair; also, a beautiful set of 
horse equipments from the Central Sanitary Fair at 
Philadelphia. 

During the time Hancock was thus employed, 
the Army of the Potomac had received some modifi- 
cations. General Grant had been promoted lieu- 
tenant-general of all our armies, and had announced 
that his headquarters would be hereafter with the 
Army of the Potomac until further orders. The 
proposition was made to advance General Grant to 
this high position by his intimate friend and sup- 
porter, Hon. E. B. Washburne, of Illinois. 

While Grant had his supporters in Congress, he 
also had opposition from the same quarter ; yet in 
his own unperturbable way he went at his work to 
reorganize his army thoroughly, weeding out the 
inefficient officers and reducing the corps command- 
ers from the number five to three, Hancock of the 
second, Warren of the fifth, and Sedgwick of the 



142 WIS FIELD SCOTT HANCOCK 

sixth. Burnside's command, now in Maryland, had 
received large accessions, but it was not incorpo- 
rated with Grant's until after his passage of the 
Rapidan. Before this, after crossing the Potomac, 
it was only nominally included in that army, until 
the formal arrangement spoken of above was made. 
The total force now under Grant amounted to over 
one hundred thousand men. The opposing force 
was only about seventy-five thousand. 

The army did not commence hostilities until the 
latter part of April, the preceding two months 
being consumed by Grant for a thorough reorgan- 
izing of his command. Hancock joined him about 
this time, and the forces under the ne\v leader, on 
the 4th of May, crossed the Rapidan and entered 
upon one of the bloodiest and most protracted strug- 
gles of the war. 

Grant was thoroughly imbued with the idea that 
something else besides love-taps and soda-water 
treatment was needed to break the bands of that 
haughty, strong-willed oligarchy of the South, sup- 
ported not by the people in their sympathy, but by 
absolute military rule. To accomplish his purposes 
the armies must battle continuously against the 
armed force of the rebellion, and also to break the 
military power* of the South, so that, if possible, 
nothing should be left to him but an equal submis- 
sion, the same as the loyal section of our country, 
to the Constitution and laws of our land. 

These were some of the views of General Grant, 
and with a determination to hammer away until 
something tangible was accomplished, he made his 



GBANT'S VIGILANCE. 143 

headquarters with this army, the most important 
field of the war, to keep a vigilant watch of his 
wary opponent and strike deathly blows when- 
ever and wherever opportunities afforded chances 
to do so. 



144 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

HANCOCK IN THE BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS. 

GRANT CROSSES THE RAPIDAN — CONDITION OF THE WILDERNESS — LEE'S 
SUDDEN ATTACK — HANCOCK RECALLED — THE BATTLE — MARCH 
TO SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT-HOUSE — POSITIONS TAKEN — THE HOTLY 
CONTESTED ENCOUNTERS — HANCOCK CAPTURES REBEL BREAST- 
WORKS — ON TO RICHMOND. 

GRANT, bent on crossing the Wilderness, if 
possible, without having a fight, moved his 
army, preparatory to the march, over to the south 
bank of the Rapidan, in the vicinity of Chancellors- 
ville, at the old fords of Ely and Germania. On 
the south bank of this river Lee was strongly in- 
trenched, his right extending from Mine Run to 
Morton's Ford, and his left extending along the 
Rapidan to Orange Court-house. 

Grant's plan was to cross below his right, pass, 
by rapid marches, through the Wilderness, where 
the land was more open in the vicinity of Spottsyl- 
vania Court-house ; then mass against Lee, and crush 
him in battle, if possible ; or, if he failed in this, to 
turn his right by a sudden movement, cut off his 
base of supplies from Richmond, and then with de- 
termination follow up vigorously, and constantly 
battle away with him as opportunity affords. If 
Grant should be able to turn his right, Lee would 
be under the necessity of fighting to regain his 



THE WILDERNESS. 145 

communications with Richmond, or turn upon Wash- 
ington. In either case, Lee could be beaten ; for, 
in the former case, Grant would intrench and then 
court an attack — and as to Washing-ton, the forces 
acting there on his front, in conjunction with Grant at 
his heels, would insure him a defeat. But the prin- 
cipal maneuvering at present consisted in making 
good an escape through the Wilderness — the dis- 
tance through to Spottsylvania Court-house being 
about twenty miles. 

This Wilderness was overgrown with hazel under- 
growth, making it a dense woodland, with but few 
clearings ; roads narrow, and, for the most part, 
nothing but cart-tracks, running irregularly, and 
crossing in every direction, making it impossible for 
Grant to use his artillery, or make, in any way, a 
creditable fight against an enemy that understood 
thoroughly every foot of ground in that vast tract 
of forest, and could take him unaware in so many 
by-ways and unexpected places. 

Lee, however, determined otherwise. He was 
desirous of fighting Grant in the Wilderness, and 
he had made every arrangement to plant his army 
squarely before the Army of the Potomac, and flank 
right and left, and hotly contest every inch of ground 
Grant should ask on his way to Richmond. He had 
made good time of the past interval of two months 
Grant was reorganizing his troops, by doing the 
same with his own. He also had reduced his corps 
commanders in number to three ; and those leaders, 
Hill, Longstreet, and Ewell, old army officers and 
West Pointers, were as efficient as the nation af- 

10 



146 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

forded. Ewell now held the left; A. P. Hill, the 
right ; and Longstreet, but a day's march off, was 
near enough at hand for an emergency. 

Grant was expected to cross on the left, and to 
keep up the feint, sent Kilpatrick, by the way of 
Ely's Ford, to move rapidly down on Lee's left, to 
Spottsylvania Court-house, and from thence to Rich- 
mond — which point he pushed on to till within three 
and a half miles — but being attacked at that place 
by an overwhelming number, retired, to a point six 
miles from Richmond, for the night. 

Colonel Dahloren also made demonstrations on 
the rebel left, but was not so successful ; his negro 
guide misled him ; his troops, before Richmond, were 
dispersed, and he nimself was pierced with five balls, 
killing him instantly. 

Warren was directed by Meade to cross at Ger- 
mania Ford, and move direct to Old Wilderness 
Tavern, five miles southward of the ford. Sedgwick 
followed, as a reserve. Warren camped for the 
night at the last-named place, and Meade and Grant 
crossed the following morning". Hancock was or- 
dered to cross at Ely's Ford, and was to press 
southward toward Spottsylvania Court-house, with 
all speed, with Gregg's cavalry to clear his way, and 
Sheridan to make a reconnoissance still further south- 
west. 

But these movements were intercepted by Lee, 
whose vigilance had taught him that Grant had 
made but a feint to his left ; and being desirous of 
checking his progress through the Wilderness, put his 
forces under a rapid march to strike at Grant's left. 



HANCOCK TO THE RESCUE. 147 

Grant was unexpectedly assailed, yet, having no 
choice but to fight, countermanded the orders to 
Hancock, who had now gone some considerable 
distance; but upon receiving the order immediately 
deflected his corps and marched rapidly upon Hill, 
taking his post to the left, a few miles south of the 
old Wilderness Tavern, at the junction of the Orange 
Plank and Brock Road. 

The rescue made by Hancock was none too 
soon, the Union generals, being unacquainted with 
the country, were attacked by a large force before 
they knew the enemy were present in any consider- 
able numbers, and this was as Lee purposed it should 
be. Warren and Sedgwick were being sorely pressed 
when Hancock arrived. Hill and Ewell, striking 
upon their left, tried to crush it before assistance 
from Hancock should arrive, and Burnside not yet 
across the river. Hill was in advance of Warren 
early in the morning, and had secured a sheltered 
position across his path, and repelled W r arren's left 
with heavy loss, and had he pushed up his advances 
immediately would probably have done greater dam- 
ages to that corps, as Hancock was ten miles away 
and could not reach the field before 3 P. M. Upon 
seeing Hancock approach, Hill attempted to inter- 
cept his forces between Hancock's right and War- 
ren's left ; but this was prevented by the commanders 
immediately closing up this gap. The fighting for 
two hours was desperate and bloody, and it was 
only the stubbornness of Hancock's corps, in that 
desperate conflict, that saved the enemy from effect- 
ing a complete rout of the Union forces. 



148 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

Sedgwick had been attacked a little after i P. 
M. ; but Evvell, not having as full a force as Hill, 
was compelled to give way by the time Hancock 
became engaged. The fighting at this point was 
desperate also. Later in the day, Gordon in com- 
mand of Rhodes's division, made a vigorous attack 
on our lines and took some prisoners ; but it was 
followed by an advance of our lines until night-fall, 
when the carnage was arrested. Many generals 
would have been content with that day's loss and 
have withdrawn, but Grant purposed renewing the 
attack on the following morning by an advance 
along our whole front. Burnside, by a forced march, 
had brought his corps upon the field and assigned 
places ready for use. 

During the night of the 7th Longstreet came 
upon the scene, and, as Hancock expected, had 
detached part of his troops for a flank movement. 
He accordingly made ample provision to meet that 
advance, and with the remnant of his corps was, at 
5 o'clock in the morning, attacking the front, in 
which he was very successful, driving the enemy 
back nearly two miles, and within a hundred yards 
of Lee's headquarters. This took him across the 
Brock Road, on the way to Parker's Store, where a 
vigorous charge from Longstreet, in turn, drove him 
back until succored by Burnside, when the line 
became steady again. 

Longstreet and Hill's forces, by Lee's orders, 
were then massed together, and the whole command 
thrown against Hancock's Second Corps. The fight- 
ing now became as desperate and bloody as any yet 



GENERAL GORDON'S RAID. 149 

preceding it. The ground was so thickly wooded 
and overgrown with underbrush that artillery could 
not be used to any advantage whatever ; in short, 
out of the three hundred pieces belonging to the 
whole army, only about twenty could be brought 
into play at any one time. The shrubs and brushy 
stunted trees would conceal a foe except within a 
distance of a few yards. Yet the enemy came on 
like a sea; but Hancock was like a rock, as if rooted 
to the ground upon which he stood. " Greek had 
met Greek, and the tug of war had come." 

The enemy, failing in this attack, next struck 
Warren's left and Hancock's right, a point not very 
strong, composed of only Stevenson's division of 
Burnside's corps. To this point Colonel Carroll was 
promptly dispatched by Hancock with the third bri- 
gade of his second division. Colonel Carroll met 
the foe, and, striking him in the flank, drove him 
back with but little loss and capturing some prison- 
ers, thus ending the fight on our left; but about sun- 
set, when our right were at rest, lying upon the 
grass sorely fatigued with the hard day's fight, and 
not suspecting an enemy near, was surprised by a 
dash and a blaze of musketry by the enemy under 
Gordon, who had obtained permission to make a 
raid with one of Ewell's divisions, capturing two 
brigades, that of Truman Seymour's and Shaler's, 
including Seymour himself, taking nearly four thou- 
sand prisoners and nearly succeeding in making a 
rout of that corps ; but Sedgwick, by a little system- 
atic maneuvering, chased the enemy ofT, but not 
until they had captured their prize. 



150 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

General Seymour was particularly unfortunate, 
having been that day advanced to the position of a 
brigade commander. On his way to Libby Prison 
he took it upon himself to preach some wholesome 
doctrine to those having him in charge. 

Hancock had lost one of his faithful generals in 
the person of General James S. Wadsworth, who 
was shot through the head and mortally wounded 
while trying to stem the current made on Steven- 
son's division. Wadsworth was an honored citizen 
of New York State, had wealth in abundance, and 
in every way was in perfect ease, born to affluence, 
cradled in luxury and social distinction, and lived 
without encountering any of the hardships until his 
country called him, when he left all and endured 
hardships incredible for the love he bore his native 
land. In the year 1862 he was run by the Repub- 
lican party for governor, and would have been 
elected could the soldiers of the State have had the 
privilege of exercising their rights as citizens at the 
polls while in the field. 

The enemy, finding the skill and valor of Han- 
cock proof against their attempts to break his line, 
Hill and Lontrstreet withdrew, and Lee intrenched 
himself in a position which Grant did not deem pru- 
dent to assault on the following morning, the 7th of 
May ; but our army, after two days' fight — although 
its losses were heavy, amounting in round numbers, 
killed and wounded, to twenty thousand men — were 
still on the same ground held substantially from the 
beginning. 

The Second Corps, in its intrenched line, was, 



WILDERNESS ON FIRE. 151 

during the night of the second day's fight, driven 
back by an adverse foe it could not meet. The en- 
emy had fired the dry leaves and other combustible 
material in the wilderness, which readily ignited and 
rapidly spread, driving them out of their breast- 
works, and partly burning them up. But Hancock, 
a man after Grant's own heart, had been baptized 
in fire, even that caused by shedding the blood of 
thousands of his brave soldiers, which was a more 
intense fire than that of brush-heap blaze. He im- 
mediately turned upon his assailants and drove them 
from the field, as they had seized this opportune 
moment to follow him up and take his position be- 
hind his abatis. 

On the morning of the 7th Grant found Lee 
strongly intrenched, and unwilling to come out and 
make an attack. Skirmishers were busy in many 
directions, but as Lee chose to remain under cover 
Grant was quite willing, as fighting in this labyrinth 
was as distasteful to him as it was inviting to Lee. 

Grant moved forward on the evening of the 7th 
toward Richmond, intending to clear the Wilderness 
and mount the table-lands on the clear, open plateau 
around Spottsylvania Court-house ; but Lee deter- 
mined to detain him, and, if possible, to bring on an 
engagement again in the Wilderness ; and whenever 
Grant would advance Lee would also, taking every 
advantage of his knowledge of the country to gain 
time and make a flank movement to prevent him. 
Such vigilance necessitated the greatest caution in 
every movement made, and then, in that labyrinth 
of woodland, it was impossible to go any distance 



152 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

without finding that some representation of Lee had 
been there first and obstructed the roads to cause a 
delay. 

Lee also had the advantage of having: scouts 
and spies in the Union lines that were watchful, and 
every order given by Grant for a move, or signal 
made for change of position, was communicated to 
Lee immediately. 

He was met thus with obstructions at the little 
river Po, where the Brock road crosses it, giving Lee 
time to fortify himself strongly, on the banks of the 
little river Ny, with guns planted in such a way as 
to sweep our lines in making an advance. Miles's 
brigade of Hancock's corps that day — Sunday, 
May 8 — was attacked at Corbyn's Bridge, but beat 
off its assailants, while Wilson, with the advance 
cavalry, penetrated to Spottsylvania Court-house, 
but, not receiving proper support, was compelled to 
relinquish his hold and fall back. 

On Monday, May 9th, Grant had cleared the 
Wilderness, and succeeded in gathering his army 
around Spottsylvania Court-house. But Lee had 
arrived first, and, taking choice of positions, had 
selected a ridge on the south side of the river Po, 
with wings so deflected as to form a crescent sur- 
rounding the three sides of the court-house. On 
the east, south, and west, in their respective order, 
were Hill, Ewell, and Longstreet's commands ; and 
facing the first two of these, in the same order our 
position first assumed, were Hancock, Warren, and 
Sedgwick. 

On the first day of the attack General Sedgwick, 



CHARGE ON THE RIFLE-PITS. 153 

while placing his guns, was shot, falling dead in- 
stantly. He was a native of Connecticut, a bachelor 
of forty, and a good soldier. General H. G. Wright 
was promoted to the command of his corps, but in 
the battle which followed, part of his command were 
under Hancock, increasing his own number to fifty 
thousand men. 

On the following day Hancock charged on the 
enemy's rifle pits, which brought on a general en- 
gagement. Several charges were made, one by 
Colonel Upton and D. A. Russell, who rushed into 
the rebel defenses and took nine hundred prisoners 
and a number of guns ; but, in the main, the day 
closed with no decided success to either side. 

The indomitable spirit of Grant was not dis- 
heartened in the least. Feeling the need of cheer- 
ing news in Washington — for it had now been a 
constant state of excitement, not only there with the 
officials of the Government (who refused sleep to re- 
ceive telegrams from the battles in the Wilderness), 
but all through the North, where defeat with this 
army came to be regarded "as a matter of fact," 
and any thing else w r as hardly to be expected — 
Grant dispatched that pithy bulletin, stating the suc- 
cesses of that day, number of prisoners taken, and 
closing up with that wonderful statement: "I pro- 
pose to fight it out on this line, if it takes all Sum- 
mer. 

The 9th was spent in reconnoitering, and Han- 
cock was ordered, about dusk of evening, to leave 
his position in front of Hill, recross the river, and 
take a post between Wright and Burnside. The 



1 54 WINFIEL D SCOTT HANCOCK. 

afternoon preceding his move, it had been quite 
rainy, and on the following morning, very early, 
when his lines were to move, the woods through 
which lie was to pass were concealed in a heavy 
fog ; but he sternly advanced in two lines — Barlow 
and Birney forming the first, and Gibbon and Mott 
the second. These commands moved as silent as 
death, until the enemy's pickets were seen, when 
they dashed forward with a cheer, swiftly leaped 
over the rebel defenses, held by Johnson's division 
of Ewell's corps, surprising and overwhelming the 
rebels in their trenches, and capturing Johnson 
with most of his division ; also Brigadier-general 
George A. Stewart, a part of two brigades, and 
thirty guns and over three thousand prisoners. 

Hancock wrote, in pencil, to Grant: "I have 
captured from thirty to forty guns. I have finished 
up Johnson, and am going for Early." 

He had, in fact, by this master-stroke, nearly 
cut the rebel army in two, and all but captured Lee, 
but he did not know it. 

When Stewart, who was an old army friend of 
Hancock, was brought to him, Hancock held out 
his hand cordially, inquiring: " How are you, Stew- 
art?" The latter haughtily replied: "I am General 
Stewart, of the Confederate Army, and, under the 
circumstances, I decline to take your hand." "And 
under any other circumstances, general, I should 
not have offered it," was the fit and proper response 
of General Hancock. 

Hancock found he had all that he could possibly 
do to hold the position he had taken, and ordered 



THE FIVE S UCCESSIVE ASS A UL TS. 155 

the rifle-pits reversed immediately, to cover the 
attacks of the enemy; Lee was in the works 
when they were captured, and departed rather ex- 
peditiously to the rear, when our men scaled its 
walls. The loss of the place, the men, and the 
guns, was irrecoverable ; and now that a strong 
force was intrenched in a strong place, Lee would 
not, under most circumstances, have made an attack 
against it, but, under the present circumstances — 
he being cheated out of the prize, as it would seem 
he half regarded it — crazed him with a wild, foolish 
determination to retake it, cost what it might. He 
accordingly rallied his men, and vigorously hurled 
them, again and again, against his assailants ; but 
these attacks made no impression on Hancock's un- 
shaken front. 

Grant had fully prepared for the emergency. 
Wright's corps was in reserve, while Warren and 
Burnside charged promptly and bravely on our right. 
The whole line became engaged; so that a defeat 
now was annihilation. 

In their desperation Lee made five successive 
and desperate assaults to retake the works, the 
men fighting hand to hand encounters, and some- 
times the troops in gray would actually reach the 
rifle-pits, and with their respective flags placed on 
opposite sides of the same breastworks would fight 
over the low earthen parapet with the bayonet. The 
whole long day was thus spent, the rebels making 
superhuman efforts to regain the lost prize, but in 
each attack they always left the dead and wounded 
behind in thousands. 



156 WIS FIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

Hancock was unable to advance, as he had ex- 
pected, and in the brisk engagements even lost 
some of the guns he had taken. No time was given 
and none taken but to fight; the incessant shower 
of bullets was amazing. The forest trees within 
gun-shot that day were stripped of their leaves and 
branches, and in some cases even cut down. The 
carnage continued until noon, when a rain set in, 
and still the fight went on. The day passed away 
and night came, but still the fight was as vigorous 
as it was at early morn. The light of the incessant 
flashes of the musketry, with regular intervals of 
smoke of battle, filling the forest alternately with 
light and darkness, kept up until midnight, when 
the warring fiends were compelled to give way to 
the wants of human nature, and Lee withdrew his 
force to a second line, where he fortified himself 
stronger than at first and relinquished his rights to 
their hard-won prize. Thus, after a twenty hours' 
siege, our men were willing to let him go without 
pursuing. He, however, held a line immediately in 
front of Hancock, so that the position relinquished 
proved as invulnerable as ever. 

Several days were now consumed in making re- 
connoissances, as usual ; sometimes an assault would 
be made ; but Lee was tardy in renewing his attack, 
but finding a weakened right, caused by Hancock 
sending out Gibbon's and Birney's and Tyler's divi- 
sions to make an assault nearly in front of their 
works, he threw Ewell against our flank on the 
right ; but he was gallantly repulsed and thrown off 
without serious loss to Hancock. Ewell's men, upon 



OUR LOSSES. 157 

the appearance of the second corps, ran off and 
became scattered in the woods, our men picking up 
a number of them afterwards. 

Our losses in and around Spottsylvania Court- 
house were scarcely less than twenty thousand. The 
rebels', owing to the defensive attitude on the ridge, 
was not so many, but they had suffered heavily. 

Grant, not caring to lay siege to Spottsylvania 
Court-house, it being a point of no strategic value, 
resumed his march, May 20th, for Richmond, at the 
same time our base of supplies being changed from 
north of the Rapidan to Fredericksburg. 



158 WIXFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 



CHAPTER XV. 

HANCOCK BEFORE RICHMOND. 

HANCOCK AT NORTH ANNA — THE BLOODY BATTLE AT COLD HARBOR — 
THE ADVANCE MADE TOWARD PETERSBURG — MAJOR-GENERAL W. F. 
SMITH AND HANCOCK — THE ATTACK ON PETERSBURG, AND OUR RE- 
VERSES — CAVALRY RAIDS AROUND RICHMOND — THE SIEGE BEGUN. 

OUR army, in making its way from the Rapidan 
to Richmond, marching always through un- 
known territory and an enemy's country, had to 
undergo many disadvantages. The Confederate 
chieftain could appeal to his soldiers in behalf of 
their homes and firesides, and unite them against 
the invaders of their soil, and urge them to seize 
every opportunity to harass their enemy, in the, to 
them, strange by-ways, fords, and other places that 
could be used as covers and places of retreat — nor 
were these opportunities unheeded. Grant had but 
crossed the Rapidan successfully, before his mask 
was raised, and the rebels precipitated their forces 
upon him ; and when he made a move, he always 
found Lee pari passu with him ; should he attempt 
to cross a ford, his foe, by some strategy, would 
arrive there first, and after throwing up some kind 
of an abatis or redoubt, would contest the right of 
way. In this way was every inch of ground disputed 
on that long, tiresome, bloody march South. 

As usual, upon leaving Spottsylvania Court- 



NORTH ANNA. 159 

house, Lee, from his position on the high ridge, 
could take cognizance of Grant's movements, and 
interpret properly his intentions. It is true, Wright's 
blow on his front, against Hill, stunned the rebels 
sufficiently to permit the Union forces to withdraw 
without loss ; but Lee held the approaches leading 
to the important highways, and Grant was compelled 
to undertake a circuitous route before he could re- 
gain his proper direction for Cold Harbor. Han- 
cock was in advance. 

Owing to this detour, Grant was compelled to 
move by inferior roads ; this gave Lee an oppor- 
tunity again to cross the North Anna, and strongly 
fortify himself, before his antagonist could come up. 
Our forces crossed, but not without considerable 
opposition and hard fighting, at different fords. Lee 
was intent on making a stand, and being reinforced 
by Breckinridge, was better able to hurl back our 
forces that had already crossed. 

Hancock was at the Chesterfield bridge, where 
he was wedged in between Long Run and the 
river, with part of his force across and the remainder 
on the north bank, and confronted by M'Law's di- 
vision of Longstreet's corps — who also defended a 
stronghold on the North bank. Hancock sent a 
command against this, who approached under a 
heavy fire, on the double-quick, rushed over the 
parapet, drove out the garrison, and captured thirty 
prisoners. The enemy seemed maddened at the 
loss of this fortification, and made repeated attempts, 
during the night, to retake it ; but failing in this, 
and also in the burning of the bridge, departed that 



1G0 WIS FIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

morning, before dawn of day, allowing Hancock to 
cross in as triumphant a manner as he might see fit. 

After our forces had made the transit, Grant dis- 
covered that Lee was too strongly fortified for a 
successful attack to be made against him, without 
uselessly endangering many lives. He accordingly 
executed one of his favorite flanking movements, 
and withdrew — swinging well out eastward, with 
Sheridan in the advance, and Hancock in the rear. 
He avoided all attacks of the enemy; marched 
down the North Anna to the Pamunkey, and, near 
Hanover Court-house, crossed over, not meeting 
with any opposition from the enemy ; but, as usual, 
Lee had relinquished his hold on North Anna, and 
was in fortifications a^ain to meet his assailants. 

Lee was so situated as to make it extremely 
hazardous, if not impossible, for Grant to cross the 
Chickahominy ; but, unwilling as Grant was to attack 
Lee in a stronghold (which was duly shown at North 
Anna), yet it became necessary, at this time and 
place, to reach the grand object of his invasion, and 
it required of him a total disregard of the enemy's 
favored position. Some spirited skirmishes followed, 
in which Hancock became engaged; but, after three 
days' maneuvering, planning, and pondering, the 
right of Lee was considered the most vulnerable 
point for an attack. 

Sheridan had seized a junction of roads, just be- 
low Cold Harbor, and our forces in part moved or 
directed to that gap, and was successful in making 
good the place next day, supported by ten thousand 
under General \V. F. Smith, just arrived from Fortress 



BARLOW AND GIBBON 161 

Monroe. These two forces were to advance and 
force a passage of the Chickahominy, and repel Lee 
in their front. The attack was made late in the 
day, and our forces had to advance across a level, 
open field to reach the enemy, who was well forti- 
fied, under cover, in the woods. The combat was 
an unequal one in every way, but, nevertheless, our 
men advanced with so much spirit as to capture six 
hundred prisoners and some of the enemy's rifle-pits. 

On the morning of June 3d Grant ordered Han- 
cock to proceed to our left and open up an attack 
in conjunction with the sixth and eighteenth corps. 
The sixth and eighteenth corps, probably disheart- 
ened by their loss of two thousand men on the day 
previous, did not charge with much spirit, but the 
valorous second corps did. 

Barlow and Gibbon's did fearful execution on the 
enemy's works, furiously rushing through a dreadful 
artillery fire and of musketry also ; they actually 
gained a foothold within their works ; but being 
unsupported and exposed to enfilading fires of the 
enemy were compelled to withdraw, which was done 
promptly ; but forming a line within a few rods of 
the enemy, and covering their front so quickly, the 
enemy could not dislodge them. Gibbon, charging 
on Barlow's right, was less fortunate. Before him 
lay an impassable swamp which divided his com- 
mand ; but he also gained the enemy's works, and 
then retreated to within a few yards, where he cov- 
ered his front quickly, making himself impregnable 
to the enemy. 

In half an hour's time the loss sustained by these 

11 



162 WIXFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

charges amounted to seven thousand men, and in 
all the operations around Cold Harbor, that day, 
within the same length of time given above, fully 
ten thousand men were stretched on that fatal field 
either in ao-ony or death, while the loss to the enemy 
was only about one thousand. 

The attempt to penetrate an invulnerable point 
had caused us the loss of many brave men. The 
author is no military critic, but it always seemed 
that there was not the proper regard shown for the 
lives of our brave men on this field that should have 
been by the commander, and this conviction is deep- 
ened when Grant, after this fearful carnage and 
slaughter, attended with no advantage as yet, should 
have ordered a renewal of the attack immediately. 
And, too, we do not wonder that his men unani- 
mously and decidedly refused to obey it. They were 
willing to repeat Bull Run and Fredericksburg when 
absolutely necessary, but they were unwilling to be 
hurled ao-ain and ao-ain against Cold Harbor when 
Richmond was the objective point, and the same 
could be gained by going round the obstacle instead 
of over it. 

Our army remained in front of Cold Harbor 
nearly a fortnight, and so closely was it intrenched 
to the enemy that it was impossible for the rebels 
to come out for fear of being captured, nor could 
they get away save by hugging closely to the ground 
while making their exit. 

Grant now determined to push his forces around 
Lee's, and marshal his hosts south of the James 
and concentrate upon Petersburg. This city is one 



ACROSS TO PETERSBURG. 163 

01 some size and importance, being the third one in 
the State in rank. Its commercial trade is also of 
considerable consequence, as its wharves are filled 
with vessels of one hundred tons burden, while it 
commands all the railroads leading South and South- 
west, except the Danville. 

As soon as it was determined that Meade 
should cross the James, below Richmond, Grant sent 
orders for Butler to hasten up the river with his 
command. 

On the night of the 12th Hancock had withdrawn 
from his trenches at Cold Harbor and marched 
nearly in M'Clellan's tracks of two years previous 
to Bermuda Hundreds, and from thence across the 
Appomattox, at Point of Rocks, reaching within two 
and a half miles of the Petersburg defenses before 
noon. Hinks's Black Brigade was sent up directly 
against the opposing forces, and the rifle-pits and 
two guns were captured. Hancock was in the rear, 
and did not come until near dark. General Smith 
did not assault till sun-down, when he cleared the 
trenches in his front, captured three hundred pris- 
oners and sixteen guns. And upon the arrival of 
the second corps, Hancock, waiving his seniority, 
tendered his troops to Smith, who, it seems, only 
put them in the captured works, relieving his own 
troops, but made no further use of it. 

Grant, it seems, had desired to attack that place 
at once, but Hancock had received no intimation of 
his design. He was ordered to march to some 
given place found upon the map, but where he knew 
not, and that evening, it seems, in the hurry of the 



1G4 WIS FIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

moment, having a thousand and one things to attend 
to, claiming his immediate attention, did not know 
until late that evening that Petersburg was to be 
assaulted at all. In the morning he was detained 
for rations, but had he received the least intimation 
that an attack was to be made, Hancock, as Grant 
well knew, was not wanting in a readiness to begin 
operations. 

Major-general W. F. Smith, however, having 
command of the forces at that moment, was the one 
upon whom the blame was to fall, if any, as he re- 
mained inactive while the iron-nerved veterans of 
Lee concentrated under Hill. They were generally 
on hand before Grant ; but now, for some cause, 
Petersburg was not that night altogether an invul- 
nerable point ; but on the following morning, when 
reinforced, it was. 

Butler had failed to put in an appearance, Smith 
did not attack, Hancock had no orders to do so, and 
the success gained by Wilson, who had advanced to 
within two miles of the city, where he drove in the 
enemy's skirmishers, had to halt, then retire ; while 
Kautz actually went up into the Confederate citadel, 
and had he been supported as he should have been, 
Petersburg would no doubt have been taken. 

This hesitation of Smith to follow up his advan- 
tages proved the turning point in the campaign, and 
likewise an event in history that somewhat shook 
Grant's kindly feeling for that immoderate delay. 

Thus important events in the history of our 
country were wavering between the night of the 
1 2th — when Hancock stealthily left his camp on the 






HARD FIGHTING. 165 

Chickahominy — and the 16th — when Grant con- 
cluded a general engagement with the enemy — was 
necessary to still further his purposes of breaking 
into the head of sloop navigation, the identical 
Petersburg itself. 

At the time above stated Burnside and Warren 
came up, and so did Lee and Hill. The forces were 
arranged before evening, Smith being on the right 
of the Union forces, touching the Appomattox, and 
having- to his left Warren, Hancock, and Burnside, 
and further still to the left, Kautz's cavalry ; and at 
6 P. M. a general assault was made along the whole 
line. Hancock, Warren, and Burnside rushed for- 
ward under a heavy fire, and while they advanced 
and held our lines, it was done at a fearful cost 
of many lives. Birney, of Hancock's corps, had 
stormed and carried the ridge in front. Burnside, 
also, at daylight, carried the exterior work, defying 
him, capturing a few guns and some prisoners. 
Outer points were pushed, but successes were wav- 
ering, the preponderance in loss of killed and 
wounded beingf against us and in favor of the 
i!;nemy. 

These desperate struggles against Petersburg 
had a tendency to draw the Rebel forces to that 
quarter, but Grant, not knowing they had arrived as 
yet in such large numbers, purposed to make an at- 
tack on the 1 8th of June ; but when it was found 
that the enemy had withdrawn from their exterior 
fortifications and taken up their abode within stronger 
and more unassailable quarters within their interior 
lines, the attack was postponed until 3 P. M., when 



1 6 G WINFIELD SCO TT HANCOCK. 

an experiment was made again, at a loss of some 
ten thousand men, and it was then concluded that 
Petersburg could not be taken, assailed from any 
quarter, no matter what might be the force. 

Meade's army was then directed to strongly 
entrench, as it began to be weary and needed rest. 
The hot days of that Southern clime in midsummer, 
with ground parched, and the air scorching with the 
melting rays of the hot sun, was an. endurance in itself 
they had to undergo not easily borne. The cavalry 
still kept busy, dashing in here to some depot — 
destroying resources or breaking up some important 
communications — until many of the roads running to 
and from this city were destroyed, the Weldon 
Railroad in particular receiving some considerable 
damage. 

After this lon°f tedious, constant hard fi<ditincr 
campaign, beginning on the Rapidan the 4th of 
May, and terminating on the 16th of June, in the 
trenches before Petersburg, in which there had 
been upon the part of the officers, the most exact- 
ing requirements of their duties, of which the annals 
of war have any record, Hancock found it neces- 
sary to his health to take a leave of absence, while 
his army was making the siege. His ugly wound 
received at Gettysburg, and also one received in 
the battle of the Wilderness we had not as yet 
mentioned, be^an to give him a i^reat deal of 
trouble. From time to time the festering sore 
would cause him much distress, especially after 
some exertion had been made during the day. 
The fio^htincr so severe, and the constant strain on 



THE SECOND CORPS. 167 

the mind of a general being so great, rest and 
sleep readily gives way to that of excitement. 

His command was assigned to General Birney, 
during his absence, the worthy soldier who figured 
so conspicuously and valiantly in all the battles, from 
Gettysburg to Petersburg. During Hancock's ab- 
sence from his command the Second Corps had 
suffered considerably, and had wasted away to a 
mere shadow of its former self. 



1 G 8 WINFIEL D SCO TT UASCOCK. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

HANCOCK BEFORE RICHMOND— CONCLUDED. 

BLOWING UP THE REBEL FORT — THE FAILURE OF HANCOCK'S SECOND 
DEMONSTRATION NORTH OF THE JAMES RIVER — BATTLE OF REAM'S 
STATION — BATTLE OF HATCHER'S RUN— SIEGE BEGUN— A REVIEW 
OF FACTS — THE GALLANT SECOND CORPS — HANCOCK AS A MILITARY 
COMMANDER. 

AFTER Hancock returned to his corps, he started 
on the night of July 26, to threaten Richmond 
the north side, crossing the James at Deep Bottom. 
Foster, who was at Bermuda Hundreds, and who 
had already disquieted Lee by his nearness, was to 
amuse the general by a feint in front, while Han- 
cock was to turn his advance position. Lee ob- 
serving the movement (it being a transfer from 
Grant's extreme left to his extreme right), was con- 
vinced that work was begun in earnest. He 
had always found enough to do where Hancock 
was, and accordingly followed in pursuit with five 
divisions. 

Hancock took post at Deep Bottom opposite 
Malvern Hill, where in conjunction with Foster he 
succeeded in attracting the attention of Lee from 
Petersburg. And also in the skirmishing 1 that fol- 
lowed the rebel outpost was successfully flanked, and 
carried by Mile's brigade of Barlow's division. The 



BEFORE PETERSBURG. 169 

enemy falling back, Sheridan was to flank Chapin's 
Bluff, still nearer Richmond on the north side of 
the James River; and in this he was so successful 
as to draw Lee's attention to him also, in large 
numbers. 

Every thing now had worked admirably for car- 
rying out the scheme of blowing up the rebel fort 
with powder, and then rushing in and taking pos- 
session before order could be restored ; but the pro- 
ject all failed, as we shall soon see. 

Burnside's corps held a position directly in front 
of Petersburg. The rebel fort in one place had 
been pushed up within one hundred and fifty yards 
of our lines. Under this fort Burnside had run a 
mine. His operations while at work were screened 
from the enemy by a deep hollow, and so success- 
ful were they digging this tunnel, and placing 
underneath the fort four tons of powder, that the 
rebels never suspected its existence, save through a 
rumor (which gained its credence through some 
deserter probably), that was not heeded. It was 
proposed that while the attention of the rebels was 
concentrated upon Hancock, the mine should be 
fired, and Burnside with three divisions should rush 
in, clear the chasm and gain the crest, before the 
foe should recover from the surprise. 

On the morning of July 30, all being ready, the 
match was duly applied at three and half o'clock 
A. M., but no explosion followed ; after considerable 
time Lieutenant Jacob Douty and Sergeant Henry 
Rees, of. forty-eighth Pennsylvania, went into the 
tunnel, found the difficulty, and after removing it the 



170 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

mine was again fired at a quarter of five o'clock 
in the morning'. The explosion which followed was 
tremendous. The fort was hoisted into the air two 
hundred feet; three hundred men, constituting its 
garrison, were completely annihilated ; great gaps 
and fissures were made, leaving a gigantic hollow 
fifty by nearly one hundred and fifty feet. And to 
add to the enemy's surprise, and to help wake them 
from their morning slumbers, and discomfort them in 
trying to regain their former position, before our as- 
sailants would be ready to take their own stand in 
their places, the guns opened all along the front. 

But it was necessary, too, that the forces of Burn- 
side should rush in immediately ; but they failed to 
do what was expected. The inspecting officer had 
reported that of the four divisions of Burnside's 
corps, the black was fittest for this work ; to this 
Grant dissented, but finally acquiesced, and it with 
General Ledlie's division went in. Tardiness was 
caused by there being no preparation before the at- 
tack. The way from our lines to the fort was so 
blockaded with obstructions of all kinds, that when 
the storm was made, much valuable time was lost in 
opening paths, through removing the abatis, which 
had previously protected our front from sudden 
dashes of the enemy. 

Seeing the great delay made by the dash of the 
first divisions, other divisions came up under Porter 
and Wilcox ; but after an entrance was made into 
the crater there seemed to be the utmost confusion, 
and the commands became mixed and unavailable. 
Two hours were thus shamefully wasted, giving the 



SECOND RAID NORTH. 171 

enemy time to recuperate and form into line and 
drive them out, at a loss of over four thousand men 
to our army. The enemy's fire of artillery and 
musketry was terrific, and after driving our forces 
back all became confusion again ; and, order being 
lost, each soldier beat a hasty retreat, seeking only 
personal safety in his flight. The enemy lost only 
about one thousand, including the three hundred 
blown up. 

Had Burnside rushed in, occupied the hill, and 
then intrenched before the enemy could have ar- 
rayed against him, the siege would probably have 
ended, as this hill commanded the town. Thus 
ended what proved to be only a farce, and Hancock 
was recalled. 

He was sent the second time to the north of the 
James. This was a fortnight after the explosion of 
the fort, and again impelled against the rebel left, 
facing Deep Bottom, for the purpose of again amus- 
ing Lee w r hile another attempt would be made to 
destroy the Weldon Railroad, and cut off one of the 
chief sources of the rebel supplies. This expedi- 
tion north was to engage Lee sufficiently, but not 
to attempt anything particularly hazardous ; but it 
resulted in disaster to Hancock. The loss in this 
encounter was about five thousand men ; the ene- 
my's loss was less, but a heavy one. 

In these demonstrations, facing Richmond, Han- 
cock was strengthened by the Tenth Corps, under 
Birney, and by Greggs's division of cavalry. With 
this force he attempted to flank the rebels at 
Bailey's Creek, sending one division to the rear and 



1 72 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK 

one to the south, while another made a dash from 
the river. 

The difficulty of getting the men across the river 
and in fighting attitude caused some delay, and gave 
Lee an opportunity to reinforce his lines ; and, al- 
though Hancock's cavalry pushed his advantages 
up to Charles City, driving the enemy before him, 
upon the whole no decided success was gained. 

When it became apparent to Grant that a con- 
• siderable part of Lee's forces had been sent away 
to the defense of Richmond, Warren was ordered 
out along the Weldon Railroad to a distance of 
about three miles, August 18, to take possession of 
that road. Lee probably knew that the attack north 
of Richmond was but a mask ; yet he was under the 
necessity of guarding against Hancock or the city 
would fall into his hands, and thus enable Warren 
to take the Weldon Railroad without much re- 
sistance. 

The gain to our side was only another step Grant 
had taken in the right direction, yet it did not cut 
off the supplies to the city, but Lee now was com- 
pelled to wagon them around from Ream's Station, 
in Warren's rear. 

The position taken was strongly fortified by 
Warren, much to the discomfiture of the enemy. 
They frequently paid him visits, sometimes on the 
sly, but generally fired off a number of big guns in 
/ honor of his presence, and sometimes making their 
rounds among the cattle yards, driving off herds of 
beeves, etc. 

Hancock, in order to spoil opportunities for ob- 



CUTTING OFF SUPPLIES. 173 

taining resources as soon as possible, and bring the 
two great contending parties of the North and South 
to speaking terms and a closer relationship with 
each other, moved his army to the rear of Warren's, 
and tore up a considerable portion of the railroad at 
Ream's Station. This was for the selfish purpose, 
of course, of bringing hunger to his foe for want of 
the necessaries of life ; and that, in turn, would bring 
all parties to a proper appreciation of the advantages 
arising from having friendly and amicable neighbors. 

General Lee dissenting, sent Hill, with a large 
force, to stay Hancock's proceedings, which led to a 
decisive battle, Hill succeeding in driving our forces 
back with some loss. Hill, however, was severely 
punished for his interference. Hancock, in this 
struggle, was in need of help to regain his advance 
position, taken the first day, at Ream's Station ; but 
no assistance coming, he was compelled to with- 
draw, his losses amounting to four thousand two 
hundred, out of eight thousand troops he took with 
him into the field. Hill's loss was not so great. 

After some length of time, Grant made his final 
effort for the year 1864. His endeavors, for some 
months past, had been made south and west of 
Petersburg and Richmond, in destroying the enemy's 
lines of communication, by severing the railroads 
running into those cities. Warren had successfully 
planted himself upon the Weldon Railroad ; but 
strong as it was, others still needed severance. 

Grant, as usual, ordered a demonstration to be 
made north of Richmond, with a strong force under 
Butler, which moved by the way of the Richmond 



171 W INFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

defenses, by the Charles City and Williamsburg 

roads. On our left, Hancock led the second, by 
Hatcher's Run and the Boydton plank road, only 
taking three days' rations with them, the intention 
being- to move the Second, Filth, and Ninth Corps 
around Lee's right, and cut all his communications 
south of the Appomattox. It was believed this 
would compel Lee to evacuate Petersburg, and pos- 
sibly Richmond also. 

The column moved to the extreme left. Hancock 
striking the fortifications of the enemy on Hatcher's 
Run, finding but little opposition, marched across, 
and then in a north-west direction to the Boydton 
plank road, and pushed forward to strike the Lynch- 
burg Railroad, in the enemy's rear, having cavalry 
to protect his left flank. Warren and Parke, who 
were in command of the Fifth and Ninth respectively, 
had met with more opposition in crossing the run. 

Hancock then, by deflecting his command, 
moved south to meet Crawford, who had crossed 
with two divisions, and was moving north. The 
woods being dense, swampy, and almost impenetrable, 
there was a great deal of difficulty in keeping the 
commands together. Crawford's men became sep- 
arated, and Hancock, coming into the vicinity, ex- 
tended his right so as to meet Crawford's left, as 
he supposed, but unfortunately the wings did not 
meet, by some twelve hundred yards. This gave 
Hill the same opportunity he had so frequently 
before, and Heth, with a division, was sent rush- 
ing into the gap, flanking Mott's division, and 
doubling it up in a moment's time. Egan, per- 



CLOSE OF THE YEAR. 175 

ceiving the mistake that had been made, not waiting 
for orders from Hancock (which were sent), know- 
ing how valuable every moment of time was to the 
right, charged at once upon the flanking column of 
Heth, and drove it back, capturing a number of 
prisoners. Heth's division, upon being attacked by 
Egan, left off their demoniacal yelling, and rushed 
for an open space on the Boydton road — Egan 
sweeping down with his two brigades after him, re- 
taking the lost guns and capturing over one thousand 
prisoners. 

Simultaneously with this attack, Gregg's cavalry, 
guarding Hancock's left, were attacked by Wade 
Hampton with five brigades of cavalry. Hancock 
sent what force he could spare to Gregg's relief, 
and the fighting continued until dark without any 
decided success on either side. 

Hancock had received orders at this time to take 
command of the whole force, and to continue the 
fight or to act at his own discretion ; but, unfortun- 
ately, Hancock had not the ammunition to keep up 
the conflict, nor had he the favorable country he 
supposed he had to march in when he left Peters- 
burg, and very reluctantly concluded to withdraw 
his forces that night and march back to Petersburg. 

Hancock lost in that campaign over fifteen hun- 
dred men, but the enemy had lost over twenty-five 
hundred ; while the whole army, since crossing the 
Rapidan, had lost, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, 
over seventy thousand able-bodied soldiers. 

This virtually ended the struggle for the year. 
Grant assumed his former position south of the 



176 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

Appomattox, while Lee still sat on its north bank. 
The two contending forces thus eyed each other dur- 
ing the coming Winter ; now and then some skirmish- 
ing and a little cannonading, arising, probably out of 
the habit of military life on the field more than from 
the actual necessities of warfare. However, as 
much as military critics may condemn some of 
Grant's movements during any time of this most 
famed campaign, he was always successful in finally 
securing his object, and then holding it. The rebels 
had been taught the lesson in letters of blood that 
Grant made no retreats, no matter as to his dashes 
not always being as brilliant as those of some 
generals. 

In the Spring the campaign was again opened. 
Lee finally gave way to a determined effort of 
Grant, and hastily quitted the beleaguered city, and 
attempted to unite his forces with those of Johnson ; 
but Grant so vigorously pursued him that he surren- 
dered at Appomattox Court-house. 

Hancock was recalled to Washington November 
26, 1864, to recruit a corps of veteran troops for 
other fields of service ; but the clumsy, sluggish 
anaconda of the rebellion, having been cloven in 
two by the magic sharpness of the Union sword, 
began to fall to pieces before Hancock's recruiting 
corps was filled up. The vast host of our armies at 
once returned to their peaceful pursuits, satisfied of 
their work having been done, and well done, and 
the cause of all our trouble — American slavery — 
had been removed. The war was long and bloody, 
more so than either North or South supposed it 






HANCOCK SINCE THE WAR. 177 

would be ; but did not God will that it should con- 
tinue until the two hundred and fifty years of the 
bondman's unrequited toil in amassing the wealth 
of the South should be avenged, and every drop of 
blood drawn with 'the lash should be paid by another 
drawn with the sword? 

Since the war Hancock was given command of 
the Central Military Department, with head-quarters 
in Washington. In 1866 he took command of the 
Department of Missouri, and conducted two cam- 
paigns against hostile Indians, taking the field in 
person, as usual with him in the regular army. 

In 1867 he was sent to New Orleans by the 
President of the United States to command the 
States of Louisiana and Texas, and distinguished 
himself by setting the example of an officer of an 
army having extraordinary powers to strenuously in- 
sist upon the entire subordination of civil to military 
authority in times of peace. Among the military 
commanders he was conspicuous in this regard, and 
the positions laid down in his general orders did 
more, perhaps, than anything else to make him the 
ideal soldier in the minds of Democrats. 

In 1868 he was relieved, at his own request, and 
in th,e years 1869 and 1872, inclusive, commanded 
the Department of Dakota; since which time and 
the death of General Meade, he commanded the Mil- 
itary Division of the Atlantic, composed of the De- 
partment of the Lakes, the Department of the East, 
and the Department of Washington, with head-quar- 
ters at Governor's Island, New York, where he has 
resided ever since. 

12 



ITS W INFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

His history as a soldier is made ; as a constitu- 
tional lawyer he has proven himself clear-headed 
and reliant; while his career as a governor in the 
South gives evidence of his fitness for the high posi- 
tion of trust the Democratic party is willing to con- 
fide to his hands. 

It would be hardly fitting to close this chapter 
without noticing that brave Second Corps of the 
Army of the Potomac, of whom Hancock was the 
leader, from the time they made the famous dash in 
the corn-fields of Antietam until the time Grant sat 
down to a siege before Petersburg. They acted the 
part of guard to the Army of the Potomac, filling 
the most perilous and responsible niche in the whole 
line when performing those masterly flanking move- 
ments for Grant on the way from the Wilderness to 
Richmond. In these fights they followed their leader 
into the jaws of death, before impenetrable walls and 
fortifications. Nor did they murmur. At Chancel- 
lors ville they faced the enemy and fought both ways. 
At the battle of the Wilderness, when the two great 
armies interlocked, each striving for the mastery over 
the other, they stood as a rock, and saved our army 
from a rout. They scaled the walls the of rebels 
at Spottsylvania Court-house, and fought one day 
and a night in tearing down colors of the enemy and 
beating them off the parapet ; and from there they 
fought and skirmished all the way to North Anna, 
where they again did the principal fighting on the 
field, driving the enemy across the river, and cap- 
turing one of their ugly fortifications. 

Here again the race was renewed to Richmond, 



THE SECOND CORPS. 179 

in which, by tortuous and imperfect ways, they met 
the enemy again on the banks of the Chickahimony 
in fortifications as impenetrable as the stone wall 
before Fredericksburg, against which they assailed 
again and again, but as then with no success. They 
went against the rebels at Cold Harbor when men 
were pinning slips of paper to the lapels of their coats 
that their dead bodies might be recognized after the 
battle was over. Leaving this battle-field at mid- 
night they marched with empty haversacks two days 
and nights over hot and dusty highways to cross the 
James and reach the field before Petersburg. Worn 
out and weary, exhausted and hungry, with nothing 
save perchance a stray ear of corn now and then to 
appease their appetite, they cheerfully fortified again 
and made ready for another day's fight, in which 
they were always sure of leaving some of their com- 
rades on the battle-field. Yet they flinched not. 
They — the fighting corps of the army — would follow 
their leader wherever he commanded. He was their 
idol, and asked them to brave no danger that he 
himself would not. He had as yet never deserted 
them or led them to defeat. They slept at night 
with no other purpose than following him on the 
morrow, and during that long exacting campaign 
they were ever ready, by the first glimmerings of 
the dawn of day, to give warning to the foe of their 
last night's bivouac. 

They remembered the bravery of Hancock when 
he manned the batteries at Chancellorsville, when 
he rode uncovered before his lines amid ten thou- 
sand bullets at the battle of Gettysburg. They also 



ISO WIXFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK 

remembered him in his sympathies as they went out 
to his men, to save them from hunger, to relieve 
their wants, and to provide in general for their 
necessities which the cruel war had brought upon 
them. They also could remember him as the hum- 
blest among them ; yet as of grand heroic stature, 
of commanding appearance on the battle-field. 

Twenty years ago this gallant corps volunteered 
in this struggle. They had left home and loved 
ones with no assurance of continued support to their 
families should they fall in the strife. Their pittance 
received for services was not to them the incentive 
for going into the army. Their cause was a nobler 
one than this, and yet what they have gained we 
now enjoy, while the most of them at this time lie 
low in the ground. 'T was well they had a leader 
who was their idol and friend when amid those hard- 
ships of the- battle-field. 

The confidence the Second Corps had in Hancock 
as a leader was the key to the success they had 
gained on many a battle-field. While he was not 
wanting in bravery to confront a foe-, to turn a flank 
or to scale a wall, yet his prudence was equal to 
any emergency. His quick eye told him at a glance 
that the field of Gettysburg, occupied by our troops, 
was the one above all others in the world to fight 
an enemy. And yet in the last one in which he was 
engaged wherein he shared the opportunity of cut- 
ting all of Lee's communications with Richmond, 
and of capturing his army, he quickly decided to 
withdraw his force from the field, and for which he 
has never been censured. While marching with a 






HANCOCK'S MILITARY TACT. 181 

part of his force from Chancellorsville to Gettysburg 
he was attacked by superior numbers at Thorough- 
fare Gap. In the morning the rebels opened out 
fire along their picket line and they were rapidly 
stealing round to capture his little force. He had 
but his first division with him, his second and third 
being posted elsewhere. His enemy had a force of 
nearly ten thousand ; he had but two thousand, and 
yet his military sagacity told him to fight. He 
comprehended the situation at a glance, swung his 
men into line, unlimbered his guns, and by strategy 
alone beat off his foe. And what can we say of his 
sagacity for fighting at Williamsburg when ordered 
not, or in not withdrawing his army from Gettysburg 
to Pipe Creek, it would have been a movement in 
accordance with Meade's commands, and for which 
he could not have been censured had he waived a 
fight at that place? He did what he could at Cold 
Harbor to carry out Grant's movements to be made, 
and had the commander told him to march upon 
Petersburg and capture the place when he crossed 
the James to go somewhere he did not know, as 
hungry and as tired as his soldiers were, they would 
have willingly accomplished this feat. 

The history he has made on the battle-field 
points to him as a soldier with personal qualities 
and eminent fitness to command. His ability en- 
ables him to take in all the details of his situation 
at a glance and without the least hesitation. The 
intricacies of the battle-field unravel immediately, 
showing that "he was born to command." Ability, 
in whatever direction, if properly exercised, always 



182 WINFIELD SCOTT 1IAXC0CK. 

commands the respect and admiration of friend or 
foe. The crucial test for greatness is the opportu- 
nity of the man for a grand display of those qualities 
of his mind which, when brought into activity, ex- 
hibit the highest results attainable under the cir- 
cumstances. 

The peculiar quality possessed by Hancock was 
his military tact, directed by a mind of more than 
ordinary ability, which will secure for him the admir- 
ation of all the devotees of military science as long 
as America has a history. 



MRS. SUBBATT. 181 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE TRIAL OF MRS. MARY E. SURRATT. 

GENERAL REMARKS— AN OPINION THAT THE CONSPIRACY WAS GEN- 
ERAL — THE CONSPIRATORS — THE ASSASSINATION AND ESCAPE — THE 
ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS REWARD — THE TRIAL, CON- 
VICTION, AND SENTENCE — HANCOCK'S PETITION — THE DOUBTFUL 
QUESTION ATTESTED — CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

AS some opponents of General Hancock have 
tried to make political capital out of the Sur- 
ratt trial, and as it has now by the importance 
assumed in politics become an event in the history 
of our country, as much of the trial as is necessary 
to a full understanding of the same is here repro- 
duced for information on this subject, and also for 
the vindication of General Hancock, who in no way, 
it will be found, should be held to answer for the 
crime, if any, in her case. 

We naturally feel lenient and sympathetic toward 
the living members of the Surratt family, knowing 
full well that it was a mother and all that that word 
signifies to them in the heart-rending thoughts of 
that fatal day. We are also inclined to think that 
most men living under similar circumstances in 
which President Johnson was placed would, from 
pressure brought to bear from all sides, have acted 
in the matter as he did ; and yet we feel sad to real- 



184 WISFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

ize the fact that the petition praying for mercy in 
her case on account of her age and sex had not 
been heeded. That General Hancock drew up with 
his own hands and signed this petition, in conjunc- 
tion with four others of this commission, should 
silence at once all political opponents. He had no 
alternative in fact but to obey orders, and as a sol- 
dier thoroughly instructed in principles of obedience, 
he obeyed ; but, as he said at the time, he would 
rather have taken his chances on the battlefield than 
to execute the orders given him that day. 

It must also be remembered that the time this 
trial was in progress the country was almost crazed 
at the terrible deed that had been committed, and 
that it was generally believed the conspiracy against 
our Government was more general throughout the 
South than is now supposed. There are many cir- 
cumstances surrounding the case in question that 
are of a mitigating character to all connected with 
the trial; but we will give facts in the case, and let 
readers deduct their own conclusions. 

President Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's 
Theater, Washington, on the night of April 14, 1865. 

Mrs. Surratt was tried as a conspirator, giving 
aid to those who were active in plotting against the 
life of President Lincoln and members of his cabinet, 
and of carrying into execution one of the foulest and 
most daring deeds in the history of our country. 
The time had come when all hope of sucoess had 
been extinguished by the fall and surrender of Gen- 
eral Lee's army at Richmond. The intense bitter- 
ness and hatred existing made a perfect seething, 



ASSASSINATION OF LINCOLN. 185 

surging hell of rage all around the National Capital, 
breathing the direst vengance upon the noble and 
magnanimous chief executive, while he in turn, treat- 
ing but lightly the threats that were sent anony- 
mously to him, sat in a private box, intent upon the 
stage, when the now well known assassin sent the 
fatal ball crashing through his brain, and after an 
utterance of his opinion, sic semper tyrannis, departed 
at the rear of the stage. Booth escaped from Wash- 
ington by riding through Anacosta Bridge and seek- 
ing a hiding place in Southern Maryland, where he 
was apprehended, and in being taken was so se- 
verely wounded that he died within a few hours 
after.* It was at that time thought that Con- 
federate officials had planned the whole affair, as 
may be seen by the proclamation, issued by Presi- 
dent Johnson, and charging that the crime of Booth 
and his helps had been "incited," concocted, and 
procured by and between Jefferson Davis, late of 
Richmond, Va., and Jacob Thompson, Clement C. 
Clay, Beverly C. Tucker, George N. Sanders, W. 
C. Cleary, and other rebels and traitors against the 
Government, harbored in Canada, and offering re- 
wards ranging from one hundred thousand dollars 
for Jeff. Davis, and twenty-five thousand to ten 
thousand for each of the others ; but it was after- 
wards proven that Booth was the sole projector and 
the life of the whole plot. 

After the capture of the conspirators they were 
tried by a commission of nine. Colonel H. L. Bur- 

*A short history is here given of the proceedings in the Surratt 
trial for those who have not had the opportunity of reading it up. 



ISO WIXFIELD SCOTT TIAXCOOK. 

nett was detailed by a special order of May, 1865, 
for the trial of the assassins of President Lincoln. 

The court was composed of Major-general D. 
Hunter, president ; members — Major-general Lew 
Wallace, Major-general Aug. V. Kautz, Brigadier- 
general James A. Ekin, Brigadier-general Thomas 
M. Harris, Brigadier-general Charles H. Thompson, 
and Brevet-colonel D. R. Clendennim, and Colonel 
H. L. Burnett. 

The persons charged with the assassination of 
President Lincoln were Mrs. Surratt, Payne, Atzer- 
odt, Harold, Arnold, Spangler, and Dr. Mudd. The 
four former were tried and convicted, and sentenced 
to death. The others were sentenced to imprison- 
ment for life, and were sent to the Dry Tortugas, 
where they remained in prison for a time, and then 
pardoned by Andrew Johnson. Dr. Mudd, who was 
defended by General Thomas Ewing, is still living in 
the State of Maryland. 

The court was in session about forty days. The 
trial was held in the Washington Arsenal, near the 
Potomac. After the session the court was some time 
in consultation before rendering a verdict. 

The execution was within the arsenal enclosure 
on the 7th of July, 1865. Booth's body was laid 
within fifty feet of the scaffold, but known only to a 
few. It was afterwards taken up, at the solicitation 
of Edwin Booth, his brother, and removed to Fair- 
mount Cemetery, Baltimore, and placed beside his 
father, the great Junius Brutus Booth, the tragedian. 
Each of the four others had a separate scaffold. 

General Hancock favored a commutation of sen- 



THE PETITION. 187 

tence, in the Surratt case, by the court, and so soon 
as the findings were recorded, and before the ad- 
journment of the court, he prepared a paper, which 
is in his own hand-writing, and in the presence of 
the commission, recommending executive clemency 
in Mrs. Surratt's case. This paper was signed by 
four members of the commission, and by Major- 
general Hancock, General David Hunter, the pres- 
ident of the commission ; Major-general Aug. B. 
Kautz, Brigadier-general Foster, Brigadier-general 
James A. Ekin, and Brigadier-general Thompson, 
and then attached to the proceedings and findings. 
This memorial was addressed to the President of 
the United States, and presented, as we have every 
reason to believe, by General Holt, Judge-advocate- 
general of the army. This petition set forth that, 
in the case of Mrs. Surratt, the commission, on ac- 
count of her age and sex, if possibly consistent with 
his view, to commute her sentence from death to 
imprisonment for life. 

This paper, after being considered by President 
Johnson, was returned with instructions that, as the 
findings and proceedings in the case found her 
guilty, and as there was no class in the South so 
virulent and denunciatory against the Government 
as the women, and, having lived there, he knew 
these things better, and was more capable of judging 
in the matter than the members of the commission, 
and felt that the country justly called for an exam- 
ple to be made of these parties to deter others of 
like evil intentions against the Government. 

Some time afterward there were grave questions 



188 WIXFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

among parties concerned whether or not this me- 
morial was ever presented to the President by the 
Judge-advocate-general Holt, as it had been as- 
serted afterwards that Mr. Johnson had no cogni- 
zance of any such proceedings. To officially adjust 
this matter we reproduce the correspondence after- 
ward held between General James A. Ekin and Brig- 
adier-general J. Holt, Judge-advocate-general United 
States Army. The letters will explain themselves : 

"^ai? DppaiitmBnt. 

"Bureau of Military Justice, j 
"Washington, D. C, August 24, 1S67.) 

"General James A. Ekin, 

"General^ — Recalling to your attention an inter- 
view which took place soon after the trial of the as- 
sassins of President Lincoln, in which trial you, as a 
member of the military commission, had participated, 
I beg that you will be so good as to state, as you 
may remember, the time of this interview ; also, the 
circumstances which led to it, and our conversation, 
especially in relation to the petition to the President 
for the commutation of Mrs. Surratt's sentence, 
which had been signed by yourself and four other 
members of the commission. 

"Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"J. R. Holt." 

To which General Ekin replied as follows: 

"War Department, ) 

" Washington. D. C„ August 26, 1S67. ] 

"Brigadier-general J. Holt, 

<i Ge?ie7'al, — I have respectfully to acknowledge 
the receipt, late upon last Saturday evening, of your 



RECOL LECTIONS. 189 

letter of the 24th inst., calling my attention to an 
interview which took place between us soon after 
the close of the trial of the assassins of President 
Lincoln, and requesting me to state my remem- 
brance of said interview, especially in relation to 
the petition to the President for the commutation of 
Mrs. Surratt's sentence, which petition had been 
signed by five members of the commission, includ- 
ing myself. Of the interview to which you refer I 
have distinct recollection. It occurred at your office, 
either upon the day of execution of the assassins or 
within a day or two thereafter. 

"Having been a member of the commission de- 
tailed to try Mrs. Surratt and others, I felt desirous 
of learning the impression made upon his excellency, 
the President, by the records and papers of the 
trial, which had been submitted for his judgment 
and approval. 

"In the course of the interview you remarked 
to me that the entire case, including all papers, had 
been placed before the President, and that his 
particular attention had been directed to the recom- 
mendation of members, for the commutation of the 
sentence of Mrs. Surratt. That he (the President) 
had carefully considered the case, including the 
recommendation of mercy on behalf of Mrs. Surratt, 
but that he could not accede to or regard the 
petition, for the reason, that there are no class in 
the South so virulent in the expression and practice 
of treasonable sentiments as the rebel women, that 
he by his residence in that section of the country 
has been better able to judge of and appreciate, 



190 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

and that he (the President) was better informed as 
to the disloyalty of such women than the members 
of the commission could be, and that he with all 
respect for the judgment of certain members of the 
commission, considered that the interest of the coun- 
try demanded that an example should be made, which 
would act as a summary check upon and correction 
of female disloyalty, and that he had therefore ap- 
proved the findings of the commission, and had or- 
dered the execution of Mrs. Surratt. 

"The foregoing includes the substance of the 
conversation to which you refer. 

" With sentiments of high esteem, I remain 

"James A. Ekin." 

Major-general Hancock, was then in command 
of the military department of Washington, and 
upon him devolved the duty of conducting the ex- 
ecution of the criminals, which was ordered to be 
carried out between the hours of 10 and 2 o'clock, 
on the 7th of July, two days after being approved 
by the President. 

General Hancock intrusted to General Hart- 
ranft the task of preparing the gallows where the 
prisoners were to hang, and this, owing to the 
public excitement, existing in Washington at the 
time, was arranged in a small yard in the arsenal 
prison, surrounded by a wall some twenty- five feet 
high, and wholly excluded from view outside, ex- 
cept from a cupola of one house near by. 

At 8 o'clock on the morning of the day set for 
the execution a writ of habeas corpus was served on 
General Hancock by the counsel for Mrs. Surratt, 



WRIT OF HABEAS CORP US. 191 

who desired to open up the question of the legality 
of the military court that had convicted their client. 
General Hancock at once laid the writ before 
Attorney-general Speed, and the Secretary of War, 
who took the matter to the President. The latter 
returned it to General Hancock with the following- 

o 

endorsement : 

" Executive Office, July 7th. 
" Major-general Hancock, commander, etc. 

" I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United 
States, do hereby declare that the writ of habeas 
corpus has been heretofore suspended in such cases 
as this ; and I do hereby especially suspend this 
writ, and direct that you proceed to execute the 
order heretofore given you upon the judgment of 
the Military Commission, and you will give this 
order in return to this writ." 

General Hancock, accompanied by Attorney- 
general Speed, presented himself before Justice 
Wylie, and made return to the writ as above, and 
the execution of the four prisoners took place ac- 
cordingly in the afternoon of the same day, in the 
presence of some two hundred persons, a large 
number of whom were representatives of the press 
from all parts of the country. 

General Hancock was present when the fatal 
drop was made, although we believe that it was 
General Hartranft who performed the ghastly duty 
of launching the victims into eternity. 

Political opponents have not been slow to raise 
raise a cry against General Hancock, and to assert 
that he exercised his power arbitrarily, to prevent 



192 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

Mrs. Surratt's daughter from gaining access to Presi- 
dent Johnson, for the purpose of interceding for a 
pardon or respite for her mother. From a pretty 
careful examination of the newspaper dispatches 
from the capitol at that time, we feel that any such 
charges are unjust to General Hancock. In a special 
Washington dispatch to the Cincinnati Commercial, 
of July 7th, 1865, we find the following: 

"All the relatives and near friends of those un- 
der sentence of death have been notified, and are 
allowed access to the penitentiary, and have held 
frequent interviews with the condemned." 

In the same paper, on the eighth of July, of the 
same year, it is stated, that Miss Anna Surratt visited 
the President's house, and went from there to visit 
her mother, with whom she stayed until a quarter past 
one, when she took her final leave. In the same 
dispatch, it is stated that she applied for admission 
to the President, but failed to gain access. It was 
probably the second interview she asked. 

If Mrs. Surratt was really innocent, as the two 
Catholic priests who attended upon her declared 
that she was — and which most people now believe, 
although they thought the contrary then — it is not 
surprising that her children should hold General 
Hancock in abhorrence for beingr however unwill- 
ingly, the instrument of the stern military law that 
hanged their mother on the gibbet with the guilty 
Payne, Herrold, and Atzerodt. 

Judge John Campbell, leading attorney for Mrs. 
Surratt, and Father Walter, spiritual adviser for her, 
both state, from first to last, that General Hancock 



OFFICIAL DUTY. 193 

was in no way to blame ; that he was really power- 
less to do much either way. He was not a member 
of the court ; he was merely an official whose final 
duty was to command and order the execution of 
the sentence. Had he even disobeyed the order, it 
would not have affected the final result, and, more- 
over, would have endangered his own head. 

13 



194 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

HANCOCK AS A MILITARY GOVERNOR. 

CONDITION OF THE SOUTH UPON TAKING COMMAND OF THE FIFTH 
MILITARY DISTRICT — THE POSITION TAKEN — SERVICES RENDERED 
IN MISSOURI — GENERAL ORDER, NUMBER FORTY — A HAPPY DISAP- 
POINTMENT TO THE PEOPLE — PROGRESS MADE TOWARD RECON- 
STRUCTION — ARBITRARY ARRESTS AND REMOVALS FROM OFFICE — 
LETTER TO GOVERNOR PEAS2. 

WHEN Hancock was placed in charge of the 
States of Louisiana and Texas, the great 
question was reconstruction of the Union. The 
Southern armies had surrendered, and the Southern 
States were not yet reconstructed, and were under 
military government. It was apparent to all who 
had a view to the welfare of the country, that the 
sooner these revolted States could resume their for- 
mer loyal relations to the general Government the 
sooner would the ravages of war be obliterated, and 
the prosperity of the whole country be secured. In 
these matters there were many conflicting interests, 
as well as opinions, as to the manner in which this 
great work should be accomplished. Some were 
fearful that a too sudden restoration of these States 
to their former rights would prove disastrous ; others 
still differed from these opinions, while it all tended 
to delay. 

In the mean time, the South was divided off into 



FIFTH MILITAB Y DISTRICT. 195 

military districts, and these districts were ruled by- 
military officers, on whom, of course, were conferred 
very despotic powers, leaving it within the province 
of the military commander to treat the inhabitants of 
a Southern State according to the requirements of 
a military code. Again, it was within the power 
of a military commander to give full effect to local 
laws and civil regulations, only using his military 
where disorder reigned, for the re-establishment 
of law and order, or, in cases where men, re- 
cently owners of their fellow-men, were disposed to 
exercise over the latter an undue power and re- 
straint. 

This was the condition of affairs when General 
Hancock was called to take charge of the Fifth 
Military District and Department of the Gulf, and 
act as military governor of Louisiana and Texas. 
He assumed command on the 29th day of Novem- 
ber, 1867, with head-quarters at New Orleans. There 
had been disturbances in this department, which, 
doubtless exasperated, had excited the Northern 
people. General Hancock's predecessor did not 
hesitate to make the military arm felt to be superior 
to the civil law, and to construe the power given as 
absolute and irresponsible. It is safe to say that 
almost any military governor, under the circum- 
stances, would have so construed his duties, for 
which he would have held himself accountable. But 
that such was not the course of General Hancock, 
is the crownino- credit of the man. 

It is no secret that he did not relish this com- 
mand, nor covet the responsibility that would de- 



106 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

volvc upon him. He had labored in similar work 
before, when in Missouri, and as he displayed nice 
tact and discrimination in adjusting complicated ques- 
tions between returned Confederate soldiers and 
those of the State, his reputation, in this particular, 
was a fixed fact. His reputation as a soldier and as 
a patriot was unsurpassed. He had the gratitude of 
all men for his great services in the field, and it was 
believed that the Southern people would obey his 
orders as they would those given by few others of 
the men who had subdued them. Then, again, so 
stern and unyielding a disciplinarian — one who always 
saw his own orders carried out himself — would not 
likely brook any disorder, but would rule these re- 
volted States with a firm and steady hand. 

Upon assuming command, he issued his cele- 
brated General Order No. 40, dated the 29th day 
of November, 1867. Following, we give the order: 



Head-quarters Fifth Military District, 
" New Or/cans, La., November 29, 1867. 



"General Orders, No. 40. 

" I. In accordance with General Orders, No. 
81, Head-quarters of the Army, Adjutant-general's 
Office, Washington, D. C., August 27, 1867, Major- 
general W. S. Hancock hereby assumes command 
of the Fifth Military District, and of the Depart- 
ment composed of the States of Louisiana and Texas. 

"II. The general commanding is gratified to 
learn that peace and quiet reign in this department. 
It will be his purpose to preserve this condition of 
things. As a means to this great end, he regards 
the maintenance of the civil authorities in the faith- 



GENERAL ORDER NUMBER FORTY. 197 

ful execution of the laws as the most efficient, under 
existing circumstances. 

" In war, it is indispensable to repel force by- 
force, and overthrow and destroy opposition to lawful 
authority; but when insurrectionary force has been 
overthrown, and peace established, and the civil 
authorities are ready and willing to perform their 
duties, the military power should cease to lead, and 
the civil administration resume its natural and rio-ht- 
ful dominion. Solemnly impressed with these views, 
the general announces that the great principles of 
American liberty are still the lawful inheritance 
of this people, and ever should be. The right of 
trial by jury, the habeas corpus > the liberty of the 
press, the freedom of speech, the natural rights of 
persons, and the rights of property must be pre- 
served. 

"Free institutions, while they are essential to 
the prosperity and happiness of the people, always 
furnish the strongest inducements to peace and 
order. Crimes and offenses committed in this dis- 
trict must be referred to the consideration and judg- 
ment of the regular civil tribunals, and those tri- 
bunals will be supported in their lawful jurisdiction. 

"Should there be violations of existing laws, 
which are not inquired into by the civil magistrates, 
or should failures in the administration of justice by 
the courts be complained of, the cases will be re- 
ported to these head-quarters, when such orders will 
be made as may be deemed necessary. 

" While the general thus indicates his purpose 
to respect the liberties of the people, he wishes all 



198 W1NF1ELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

to understand that armed insurrection or forcible 
resistance to the law will be instantly suppressed by 
arms. 

" By command of Major-general \V. S. Hancock. 

"[Official.]'' 

When this order came to be understood among 
the people of the Fifth Military District, they were 
highly delighted, and become exceedingly exultant. 
They had expected a repetition of what they had 
before ; but instead of a military dictator or a Caesar, 
to govern them by orders instead of laws, by mil- 
itary despotism instead of their own civil regulations, 
the reverse had come. 

After General Hancock had assumed command, 
he congratulated them upon the peace and quiet 
which reigfiied anion £ them, and assured them that 
ill order to best preserve that state of things, he 
proposed to let the civil authorities execute the civil 
laws. He regarded war as only necessary to destroy 
opposition to authority. He recognized the right 
of trial by jury, the habeas corpus, liberty of the 
press, freedom of speech, the natural rights of per- 
sons and property should be preserved ; that free 
institutions were necessary to the prosperity and 
happiness of a people, etc. Yet, with all this melody 
of language, he also announced — like a soldier di- 
rected by military requirements — that he should sup- 
press armed resistance and insurrection by force of 
arms, at once. 

While General Hancock put away right as a 
military satrap, and came under cover, when possible, 
of the civil code, it was done in defense of the con- 



RIGHTS OF THE CIVIL LAW. 199 

stitutional laws of the forefathers, and as an exponent 
of the rights of free men. To hasten reconstruction 
of the States South was, in some way or other, to 
re-establish those States under the authority and di- 
rection of their own civil government. 

After this, for the time being, the States of Lou- 
isiana and Texas moved forward on the road to re- 
construction, outstripping some of the other States, 
and had General Hancock remained in charge, the 
troubles that did follow would not have taken place. 
He maintained the purity and independence of elec- 
tions, and refused to organize military commissions 
to take the place of judicial trials, and would 
permit no military interference with the civil admin- 
istrations. 

In thus respecting the rights of the civil law, he 
was met with much opposition. The mayor of New 
Orleans had formally requested his interference in 
certain proceedings against the corporation, by mil- 
itary interference. On account of the unconstitution- 
ality of such an act, General Hancock declined. 
The general commanding the district of Texas re- 
quested a military commission for the trial of a cer- 
tain offender ; but he declined again, not wishing to 
interfere with the State government of Texas. The 
military governor preceding General Hancock had 
removed the clerk of the court, and had appointed 
another in his place ; General Hancock revoked this 
order, on the ground that if there were any charges 
against the clerk so removed, the courts were cog- 
nizant, and competent to take action in the matter. 
Other orders were also revoked, in all cases for the 



200 WIX FIELD SCOTT HANCOCK 

purpose of restoring the State authorities to their 
rights of self-oovernment. 

It was General Hancock's discussions with Gov- 
ernor Pease, of Texas, in regard to these troubles, 
that has given us an insight into the qualifications 
of a great civil ruler and statesman, as well as a 
soldier. Governor E. M. Pease, of Texas, was not 
an executive elected by the people ; he had been 
appointed by the military power of the Federal Gov- 
ernment ; and had, shortly after coming into office, 
arbitrarily removed all the judges of the supreme 
court, five in number; and also had removed twelve 
out of the seventeen district judges, and appointed 
others in their place ; he also removed the county 
officers in seventy-five counties, out of the one hun- 
dred and twenty-eight counties in the State, and 
appointed others in their stead. By arbitrary orders, 
none but persons capable of taking the test oath 
were allowed to serve as jurors. 

This was the condition of affairs when General 
Hancock took command, and the order issued, led 
to such a heated controversy with Governor Pease 
we here insert it, as it fully explains in itself Gen- 
eral Hancock's position on questions of government 
and arbitrary rights. 

The following is the letter : 

" Headquarters Fifth Military District, ) 
"New Orleans, La., March g, 1S68. ) 

"To His Excellency E. M. Pease, governor of Texas: 

" Sir — Your communication of the 17th January 

last was received in due course of mail (the 27th 

January), but not until it had been widely circulated 



PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENTS. 201 

by the newspaper press. To such a letter — written 
and published for manifest purposes — it has been my 
intention to reply as soon as leisure from more im- 
portant business would permit. 

"Your statement that the act of Congress 'to 
provide for the more efficient government of the 
rebel States ' declares that whatever government 
existed in Texas was provisional ; that peace and 
order should be enforced ; that Texas should be 
part of the Fifth Military District, and subject to 
military power ; that the President should appoint 
an officer to command in said district, and detail a 
force to protect the rights of person and property, 
suppress insurrection and violence, and punish 
offenders, either by military commission or through 
the action of local civil tribunals, as in his judgment 
might seem best, will not be disputed. One need 
only read the act to perceive it contains such pro- 
visions. But how all this is supposed to have made 
it my duty to order the military commission you 
requested you have entirely failed to show. The 
power to do a thing if shown, and the propriety of 
doing it, are often very different matters. You 
observe you are at a loss to understand how a 
government, without representation in Congress, or 
a militia force, and subject to military power, can be 
said to be in the full exercise of all its proper powers. 
You do not reflect that this government, created or 
permitted by Congress, has all the powers which the 
act intends, and may fully exercise them accord- 
ingly. If you think it ought to have more powers, 
should be allowed to send members to Congress, 



202 WIXFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

wield a militia force, and possess yet other powers, 
your complaint is not to be preferred against me, 
but against Congress, who made it what it is. 

"As respects the issue between us, any question 
as to what Congress ought to have done has no 
pertinence. You admit the act of Congress autho- 
rizes me to try an offender by military commission, 
or allow the local civil tribunals to try, as I shall 
deem best ; and you can not deny the act expressly re- 
cognizes such local civil tribunals as legal authorities 
for the purpose specified. When you contend 
there are no legal local tribunals for any purpose 
in Texas, you must either deny the plain reading of 
the act of Congress or the power of Congress 
to pass the act. 

"You next remark that you dissent from my 
declaration, 'that the country (Texas) is in a state 
of profound peace,' and proceed to state the 
grounds of your dissent. They appear to me not 
a little extraordinary. I quote your words : * It is 
true there no longer exists here (Texas) any organ- 
ized resistance to the authority of the United 
States.' 'But a large majority of the white popu- 
lation who participated in the late rebellion are 
embittered against the Government, and yield to it 
an unwilling obedience.' Nevertheless, you con- 
cede they do yield it obedience You proceed : 

" ' None of this class have any affection for the 
Government, and very few any respect for it. They 
regard the legislation of Congress on the subject of 
reconstruction as unconstitutional and hostile to their 
interests, and consider the Government now existing 



FREEDOM OF THO UGHT AND SPEECH. 203 

here under authority of the United States as an 
usurpation of their rights. They look on the 
emancipation of their late slaves and the disfran- 
chisement of a portion of their own class as an act 
of insult and oppression.' 

"And this is all you have to present for proof 
that war and not peace prevails in Texas ; and hence 
it becomes my duty — so you suppose — to set aside 
the local civil tribunals, and enforce the penal code 
against citizens by means of military commissions. 

"My dear sir, I am not a lawyer, nor has it 
been my business, as it may have been yours, to 
study the philosophy of state-craft and politics. But 
I may lay claim, after an experience of more than 
half a life-time, to some poor knowledge of men, and 
some appreciation of what is necessary to social 
order and happiness. And for the future of our 
common country, I could devoutly wish that no great 
number of our people have yet fallen in with the 
views you appear to entertain. Woe be to us when- 
ever it shall come to pass that the power of the 
magistrate — civil or military — is permitted to deal 
with the mere opinions or feelings of the people. 

" I have been accustomed to believe that senti- 
ments of respect or disrespect, and feelings of affec- 
tion, love or hatred, so long as not developed into 
acts in violation of law, were matters wholly beyond 
the punitory power of human tribunals. 

"I will maintain that the entire freedom of 
thought and speech, however acrimoniously in- 
dulged, is consistent with the noblest aspirations of 
man and the happiest conditions of his race. 



204 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

"When a boy, I remember to have read a speech 
of Lord Chatham, delivered in Parliament. It was 
during our Revolutionary War, and related to the 
policy of employing the savages on the side of 
Britain. You may be more familiar with the speech 
than I am. If I am not greatly mistaken, his lord- 
ship denounced the British Government — his govern- 
ment — in terms of unmeasured bitterness. He 
characterized its policy as revolting to every senti- 
ment of humanity and religion ; proclaimed it cov- 
ered with disgrace, and vented his eternal abhor- 
rence of it and its measures. It may, I think, be 
safely asserted that a majority of the British nation 
concurred in the views of Lord Chatham. But who- 
ever supposed that profound peace was not existing 
in that kingdom, or that government had any 
authority to question the absolute right of the op- 
position to express their objections to the propriety 
of the king's measures in any words, or to any ex- 
tent they pleased? It would be difficult to show 
that the opponents of the Government in the days 
of the elder Adams, or Jefferson, or Jackson, ex- 
hibited for it either 'affection' or 'respect.' You 
are conversant with the history of our past parties 
and political struggles touching legislation on alien- 
age, sedition, the embrago, national banks, our wars 
with England and Mexico, and can not be ignorant 
of the fact that for one party to assert that a law 
or system of legislation is unconstitutional, oppres- 
sive and usurpative, is not a new thing in the 
United States. That the people of Texas consider 
acts of Congress unconstitutional, oppressive or in- 



RIGHTS OF OPINION. 205 

suiting to them, is of no consequence to the matter 
in hand. The President of the United States has 
announced his opinion that these acts of Congress 
are unconstitutional. The Supreme Court, as you 
are aware, not long ago decide*! unanimously that 
a certain military commission was unconstitutional. 
Our people every-where, in every State, without 
reference to the side they took during the rebellion, 
differ as to the constitutionality of these acts of 
Congress. How the matter really is, neither you 
nor I may dogmatically affirm. 

" If you deem them constitutional laws, and 
beneficial to the country, you not only have the 
right to publish your opinions, but it might be your 
bounden duty as a citizen to do so. Not less is it 
the privilege and duty of any and every citizen, 
wherever residing, to publish his opinion freely and 
fearlessly on this and every question which he 
thinks concerns his interest. This is merely in ac- 
cordance with the principles of our free government ; 
and neither you nor I would wish to live under any 
other. It is time now, at the end of almost two 
years from the close of the war, we should begin 
to recollect what manner of people we are ; to 
tolerate again free, popular discussion, and extend 
some forbearance and consideration to opposing 
views. The maxims that in all intellectual contests 
truth is mighty, and must prevail, and that error is 
harmless when reason is left free to combat it, are 
not only sound, but salutary. It is a poor compli- 
ment to the merits of such a cause, that its advo- 
cates would silence opposition by force ; and gen- 



206 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

erally those only who are in the wrong will resort 
to this ungenerous means. I am confident you will 
not commit your serious judgment to the proposi- 
tion that any amount of discussion, or any sort of 
opinions, however unwise in your judgment ; or any 
assertion or feeling, however resentful or bitter, not 
resulting in a breach of law, can furnish justification 
for your denial that profound peace exists in Texas. 
You might as well deny that profound peace exists 
in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, California, 
Ohio and Kentucky, where a majority of the people 
differ with a minority on these questions ; or that 
profound peace exists in the House of Representa- 
tives, or the Senate, at Washington, or in the 
Supreme Court, where all these questions have 
been repeatedly discussed, and parties respectfully 
and patiently heard. You next complain that in 
parts of the State (Texas) it is difficult to enforce 
the criminal laws ; that sheriffs fail to arrest ; that 
grand jurors will not always indict ; that in some 
cases the military acting in aid of the civil author- 
ities have not been able to execute the process of 
the courts; that petit jurors have acquitted persons 
adjudged guilty by you ; and that other persons 
charged with offenses have broken jail and fled from 
prosecution. I know not how these things are ; but 
admitting your representations literally true, if for 
such reasons I should set aside the local civil 
tribunals and order a military commission, there is 
no place in the United States where it might not be 
done with equal propriety. There is not a State in 
the Union — North or South — where the like facts 



LAWS PRIOR TO THE REBELLION. 207 

are not continually happening. Perfection is not 
to be predicated of man or his works. No one can 
reasonably expect certain and absolute justice in 
human transactions; and if military power is to be 
set in motion on the principles for which you would 
seem to contend, I fear that a civil government, 
regulated by laws, could have no abiding place be- 
neath the circuit of the sun. It is rather more than 
hinted in your letter, that there is no local State 
government in Texas, and no local laws outside of 
the acts of Congress, which I ought to respect ; and 
that I should undertake to protect the rights of 
persons and property in my own way and in an 
aj'bitrajy manner. If such be your meaning, I am 
compelled to differ with you. After the abolition of 
slavery (an event which I hope no one now regrets), 
the laws of Louisiana and Texas existing prior to 
the rebellion, and not in conflict with the acts of 
Congress, comprised a vast system of jurisprudence, 
both civil and criminal. It required not volumes 
only, but libraries to contain them. They laid down 
principles and precedents for ascertaining the rights 
and adjusting the controversies of men, in every 
conceivable case. They were the creations of great 
and good and learned men, who had labored, in their 
day, for their kind, and gone down to the grave long 
before our recent troubles, leaving their works an 
inestimable legacy to the human race. These laws, 
as I am informed, connected the civilization of past 
and present ages, and testified of the justice, wis- 
dom, humanity and patriotism of more than one 
nation, through whose records they descended to 



208 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

the present people of these States. I am satisfied, 
from representations of persons competent to judge, 
they are as perfect a system of laws as may be found 
elsewhere, and better suited than any other to the 
condition of this people, for by them they have long 
been governed. Why should it be supposed Con- 
gress has abolished these laws? Why should any 
one wish to abolish them? They have committed 
no treason, nor are hostile to the United States, nor 
countenance crime, nor favor injustice. On them, 
as on a foundation of rock, reposes almost the entire 
superstructure of social order in these two States 
Annul this code of local laws, and there would be no 
longer any rights, either of person or property, here. 
Abolish the local civil tribunals made to execute 
them, and you would virtually annul the laws, ex- 
cept in reference to the very few cases cognizable in 
the Federal courts. Let us for a moment suppose 
the whole local civil code annulled, and that I am 
left, as commander of the Fifth Military District, the 
sole fountain of law and justice. This is the position 
in which you would place me. 

" I am now to protect all rights and redress all 
wrongs. How is it possible for me to do it? In- 
numerable questions arise, of which I am not only 
ignorant, but to the solution of which a military 
court is entirely unfitted. One would establish a 
will, another a deed ; or the question is one of 
succession, or partnership, or descent, or trust; a 
suit of ejectment or claim to chattels ; or the ap- 
plication may relate to robbery, theft, arson, or 
murder. How am I to take the first step in any 



THE PROVINCE OF GOVERNORSHIP. 209 

such matters? If I turn to the acts of Congress I 
find nothing on the subject. I dare not open the 
authors on the local code, for it has ceased to 
exist. 

"And you tell me that in this perplexing condi- 
tion I am to furnish, by dint of my own hasty and 
crude judgment, the legislation demanded by the 
vast and manifold interests of the people ! I repeat, 
sir, that you, and not Congress, are responsible for 
the monstrous suggestion that there are no local 
laws or institutions here to be respected by me, out- 
side the acts of Congress. I say, unhesitatingly, if 
it were possible that Congress should pass an act 
abolishing the local codes for Louisiana and Texas — 
which I do not believe — and it should fall to my lot 
to supply their places with something of my own, I 
do not see how I could do better than follow the 
laws in force here prior to the Rebellion, excepting 
whatever therein shall relate to slavery. Power may 
destroy the forms, but not the principles of justice ; 
these will live in spite even of the sword. History 
tells us that the Roman pandects were lost for a long 
period among the rubbish that war and revolution 
had heaped upon them, but at length were dug out 
of the ruins — again to be regarded as a precious 
treasure. 

" You are pleased to state that 'since the publica- 
tion of (my) General Order No. 40 there has been a 
perceptible increase of crime and manifestations of 
hostile feeling towards the Government and its sup- 
porters,' and add that it is 'an unpleasant duty to 
give such a recital of the condition of the country.' 

'4 



210 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

"You will permit me to say that I deem it im- 
possible the first of these statements can be true, 
and that I do very greatly doubt the correctness of 
the second. General Order No. 40 was issued at 
New Orleans, November 29, 1867, and your letter 
was dated January 17, 1868. Allowing time for 
Order No. 40 to reach Texas and become generally 
known, some additional time must have elapsed be- 
fore its effect would be manifested, and yet a further 
time must transpire before you would be able to col- 
lect the evidence of what you term "the condition 
of the country;" and yet, after all this, you would 
have to make the necessary investigations to ascer- 
tain whether Order No. 40 or something else was 
the cause. The time, therefore, remaining to enable 
you, before the 17th of January, 1868, to reach a 
satisfactory conclusion on so delicate and nice a 
question, must have been very short. How you 
proceeded, whether you investigated yourself or 
through third persons, and if so who they were, 
what their competency and fairness, on what evi- 
dence you rested your conclusion, or whether you 
ascertained any facts at all, are points upon which 
■ your letter so discreetly omits all mention, that I 
may well be excused for not relying implicitly upon 
it ; nor is my difficulty diminished by the fact that in 
another part of your letter you state that ever since 
the close of the war a very large portion of the 
people have had no affection for the Government, 
but bitterness of feeling only. Had the duty of pub- 
lishing and circulating through the country long be- 
fore it reached me, your statement that the. action 



ORDER NUMBER FORTY INTERPRETED. 211 

of the district commander was increasing crime and 
hostile feeling against the Government, been less 
painful to your sensibilities, it might possibly have 
occurred to you to furnish something on the subject 
in addition to your bare assertion. 

" But what was Order No. 40, and how could it 
have the effect you attribute to it? It sets forth that 
• the great principles of American liberty are still the 
inheritance of this people, and ever should be ; thai; 
the right of trial by jury, the habeas corpus, the lib- 
erty of the press, the freedom of speech, and the 
natural rights of persons and property must be pre- 
served.' Will you question the truths of these dec- 
larations ? Which one of these great principles of 
liberty are you ready to deny and repudiate? Who- 
ever does so avows himself the enemy of human lib- 
erty and the advocate of despotism. Was there any 
intimation in General Order No. 40 that any crimes 
or breaches of the law would be countenanced? 
You know that there was not. On the contrary, 
you know perfectly well that while ' the consideration 
of crime and offense committed in the Fifth Military 
District was referred to the judgment of the regular 
civil tribunals,' a pledge was given in Order No. 40, 
which all understood, that tribunals would be sup- 
ported in their lawful jurisdiction, and that ' forcible 
resistance to law would be instantly suppressed by 
arms.' You will not affirm that this pledge has ever 
been forfeited. There has not been a moment, since 
I have been in command of the Fifth District, when 
the whole military force in my hands has not been 
ready to support the civil authorities of Texas in thel 



212 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

execution of the laws. And I am unwilling to 
believe they would refuse to call for aid if they 
needed it. 

"There are some considerations which, it seems 
to me, should cause you to hesitate before indulg- 
ing in wholesale censures against the civil author- 
ities of Texas. You are yourself the chief of these 
authorities — not elected by the people, but created 
by the military. Not long after you had thus come 
into office, all the judges of the supreme court of 
Texas — five in number — were removed from office, 
and new appointments made ; twelve of the seven- 
teen district judges were removed, and others ap- 
pointed. County officers, more or less, in seventy-five 
out of one hundred and twenty-eight counties, were 
removed, and others appointed in their places. It 
is fair to conclude that the executive and judicial 
civil functionaries in Texas are the persons whom 
you desired to fill the offices. It is proper to men- 
tion, also, that none but registered citizens, and only 
those who could take the test oath, have been al- 
lowed to serve as jurors during your administration. 
Now, it is against this local government, created by 
military power, prior to my coming here, and so 
composed of your personal and political friends, that 
you have preferred the most grievous complaints. 
It is of them that you have asserted they will not 
do their duty; they will not maintain justice; will 
not arrest offenders ; will not punish crimes ; and 
that out of one hundred homicides committed in the 
last twelve months, not over ten arrests have been 
made ; and by means of such gross disregard of duty 



TEE FREEDMAN'S B UREA U. 213 

you declare that neither property nor life is safe in 

Texas. 

" Certainly you could have said nothing more to 
the discredit of the officials who are now in office. 
If the facts be as you allege, a mystery is presented 
for which I can imagine no explanation. Why is it 
that your political friends, backed up and sustained 
by the whole military power of the United States 
in this district, should be unwilling to enforce the 
laws against that part of the population lately in re- 
bellion, and whom you represent as the offenders? 
In all the history of these troubles, I have never 
seen or heard before of such a fact. I repeat, if 
the fact be so, it is a profound mystery, utterly sur- 
passing my comprehension. I am constrained to 
declare that I believe you are in very great error 
as to facts. On careful examination, at the proper 
source, I find that at the date of your letter four 
cases only of homicide had been reported to these 
head-quarters as having occurred since November 
29, 1867, the date of Order No. 40, and these cases 
were ordered to be tried or investigated as soon as 
the reports were received. However, the fact of 
the one hundred homicides may still be correct, as 
stated by you. The Freedman's Bureau in Texas 
reported one hundred and sixty ; how many of these 
were by Indians and Mexicans, and how the re- 
mainder were classified, is not known, nor is it 
known whether these data are accurate. 

"The report of the commanding officer of the 
district of Texas shows that since I assumed 
command no applications have been made to him 



214 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

by you for the arrest of criminals in the State of 
Texas. 

"To this date eighteen cases of homicides have 
been reported to me as having occurred since No- 
vember 29, 1867, although special instructions had 
been given to report such cases as they occur. Of 
these, five were committed by Indians, one by a 
Mexican, one by an insane man, three by colored 
men, two of women by their husbands, and of the 
remainder some by parties unknown — all of which 
could scarcely be attributable to Order No. 40. It 
the reports received since the issuing of Order No. 
40 are correct, they exhibit no increase of homicides 
in my time, if you are correct that one hundred had 
occurred in the past twelve months. 

"That there has not been a perfect administra- 
tion of justice in Texas I am not prepared to deny. 

"That there has been no such wanton disregard 
of duty on the part of officials as you allege, I am 
well satisfied. A very little while ago you regarded 
the present officials in Texas the only ones who 
could be safely trusted with power. Now you pro- 
nounce them worthless, and would cast them aside. 

"I have found little else in your letter but indica- 
tions of temper, lashed into excitement by causes 
which I deem mostly imaginary, a great confidence 
in the accuracy of your own opinions, and an intol- 
erance of the opinions of others, a desire to punish 
the thoughts and feelings of those who differ from 
you, and an impatience which magnifies the short- 
comings of officials who are perhaps as earnest and 
conscientious in the discharge of their duties as 



LETTER CONCLUDED. 215 

yourself, and a most unsound conclusion that while 
any persons are to be found wanting in affection or 
respect for government, «or yielding it obedience 
from motives which you do not approve, war, and 
not peace, is the status, and all such persons are 
the proper subjects for military penal jurisdiction. 

"If I have written any thing to disabuse your 
mind of so grave an error, I shall be gratified. 

"I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient 
servant, 

"W. S. Hancock, 

41 •Major-general Commmanding. " 



21 G WIS FIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

GENERAL HANCOCK'S ISLAND HOME. 

SITUATION OF THE ISLAND — HANCOCK'S HEAD-QUARTERS — HOUSE — 
FAMILY — FORTS AND BATTERIES — CHURCHES — FAITHFUL PATRICK. 

WE naturally desire to know something of 
General Hancock's home and surroundings, 
with that of his domestic life. His home nominally 
is in Pennsylvania, but his real residence is on 
Governor's Island in New York Harbor. 

It is one of the beautiful and pleasant places in 
the neighborhood of New York. It is reached by 
a little steam ferry boat that makes hourly trips 
from Pier I, which adjoins the new barge office. 

On the New York landing there is a little 
passenger house, in which a soldier keeps guard, 
to see that no improper person goes on board the 
boat. Upon reaching the landing of Governor's 
Island, a steep bank is ascended, and we pass a 
sentry with shouldered musket, who guards the 
rows of cannon, shot and shell, as though there is 
danger of these things being carried off. 

Passing up the avenue we are led through a de- 
lightful lawn, shaded by a great many fine large 
old trees. Fronting upon this are a dozen or more 
frame buildings occupied by the various officers 
quartered on the Island. 



HIS HOME AND FAMILY. 219 

The General's head-quarters are in a building 
near the lower end of the avenue. His house is a 
large pleasant one-story and a half building, very- 
much like many houses met with in Connecticut and 
New Jersey. Verandas extend the whole length 
of the house, both front and rear. Pillars support 
the roof covering these verandas. 

In the center of the front part of the house 
there is a heavy substantial door, opening into a 
wide hall, which extends to a door in the rear; 
midway in the hall a broad staircase leads up to 
the commodious chambers above. 

In the hall stands an old fashioned clock, such 
as our grandfather's used to adorn their homes 
with. To the right of this hall are double parlors, 
and to the left is the dining-room. The General's 
private sitting-room is at the rear end. 

The house is handsomely furnished, although 
the furniture and carpets show, age and wear. The 
figures in the brussels carpet are of ancient date 
and somewhat faded. Portraits and paintings adorn 
the room, among which is a fine one of Mrs. 
Hancock. A piano, with carved crooked legs, is 
among the interesting articles of furniture in 
the parlor. 

The family consists only of himself and wife, and 
one son. The son resides in Mississippi, thus leav- 
ing the General and his wife alone, except when 
Mrs. Russell (Mrs. Hancock's mother) occasionally 
makes a temporary home with them. The servants, 
four only in number, are colored. 

But a few steps from the General's house stands 



220 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

old Fort Columbus. In the rear is the narrow 
strait of water known as " Buttermilk Channel." 
The whole island is shaded by trees, and covered 
with a luxuriant growth of grass. The northern 
part of the island is fenced off, and is occupied by 
the Ordnance Department, as the New York Ar- 
senal ; here is to be seen a profusion of cannon 
balls, heavy guns, etc. 

Fort Columbus is a stone work, near the center 
of the island. It contains four large buildings of 
stone and brick. Castle William, also on the island, 
is located on the north-west part. It is of gniy 
stone, with three tiers of casements, inclosing five- 
sixths of a circle, the rear being open. The Souv.h 
Battery is a small triangular work on the southern 
part of the grounds, and inclosed in the rear by a 
two-story brick building. There are two magazines, 
and preparations for throwing up earth-works, and 
mounting heavy guns. Castle William would be a 
poor protection against the heavy guns now in use on 
our ships. 

The parade-ground is in the center of the island, 
surrounded by the quarters of the officers. From 
this point, elevated, as it is, twenty feet above the 
level of the highest tides, a fine view of the bay and 
of passing vessels may be obtained. 

On Sunday, when guard-mounting, at 9 : 30, A. M., 
is over, there are no military duties required, except 
ordinary police duty, until evening. 

There are two churches on the island — one 
Catholic, and one Episcopal. The Catholic Church 
is within the lower battery, on the south side of the 



OLD PATRICK. 221 

island, while the Episcopal is a structure by itself, 
in a pretty grove in the same vicinity. This is the 
church that the General and his family, and many 
officers attend. It is a pretty little chapel, with many 
gables, and high Gothic stained-glass windows. 

The head-quarters of the Military Departments 
of the Atlantic have recently been located here, and 
the major-general in command and his wife reside 
on the island. 

In one of the buildings is the club room of the 
United Service Institutions, which contains a number 
of war relics and battle-flags. 

The whole island contains about one hundred 
and forty acres of land. It was formerly called 
Nugget Island. 

The post has no regular chaplain, but the Rev. 
Mr. Goodwin, an assistant in Trinity Church, New 
York, is the pastor. Many of the soldiers attend 
the Catholic mission. 

General Hancock's son sometimes visits his pa- 
rents on the island, bringing with him two grand- 
children. 

His good, faithful old Patrick has been with the 
General ever since the close of the war. He was in 
Louisiana, Texas, Kansas, and the plains, and now 
has charge of transferring- the mails to and from the 
island. He is somewhat burdened and anxious with 
the increased responsibility, since about one hundred 
and fifty letters a day come to the General. 



The Life and Services 



OF 



HON. WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 



CHAPTER XX. 

HISTORY OF PARENTS — HIS LITERARY CAREER, PROFESSION, AND HIS 
PROGRESS — DEVOTION TO POLITICS — POSITIONS HELD IN OFFICE — 
HIS ADVANTAGES IN EARLY LIFE — OUR GREAT MEN — HIS FATHER — 
HIS MOTHER — GRAND-PARENTS, WHO THEY WERE— IN MEMORY OF 
THE DEAD — PERSONAL DESCRIPTION. 

WILLIAM H. ENGLISH was born August 
27, 1822, in the village of Lexington, Scott 
County, Indiana. His father, Major Elisha English, 
a native of the State of Kentucky, came to Scott 
County, Indiana, in the year 18 18, and had been a 
citizen of the same place for half a century. He 
served several terms as sheriff, was a number of 
years a member of the State Senate, and served 
at one time as United States marshal for his State. 
He died, respected and loved, at his son's residence, 
in Indianapolis, in the year 1874. His mother, 
Mahala Eastin English, is a daughter of Philip 
Eastin, a lieutenant in the Fourth Virginia Regi- 
ment in the Revolutionary War, and Sarah Smith 
Eastin, who died in 1843. He is of a highly pro- 



224 WILLIAM IT. EXGLISH. 

lific stock, his father being one of fourteen children, 
and his mother, who now resides with him, one of 
seventeen children. 

Born at a time when schools were not so numer- 
ous nor so efficient as now, he yet mastered the 
rudiments of an education quite early, afterwards 
taking a three year's course at the University of 
South Hanover. He was admitted to practice law 
in the Circuit Court of the State at the aee of 
eighteen, but a license to practice in the inferior 
courts did not admit of practice in the higher courts 
of the State. Mr. English was admitted to the 
Supreme Court of the State at a time when Isaac 
Blackford, Charles Dewey, and Jeremiah Sullivan 
were members of that bar, and before the old sys- 
tem of rigid examinations was abandoned, and a 
provision was made by which "any person of moral 
character, being a voter, shall be entitled to admis- 
sion to practice law in all the courts of justice." 
The new system came in with the dispensation of 
the new constitution, in which Mr. English took an 
active part. 

Mr. English, in his twenty-third year, was admit- 
ted to practice in the United States Supreme Court. 
He, however, soon drifted into politics, and then into 
office, after which he never went back into the law. 
He was ambitious, and in politics he saw a way 
opened for prominence, which he soon attained, and 
then, after the honors of office were heaped upon 
him, he withdrew his attention from them to business, 
in which he has been highly successful, and can now 
count his dollars by the million. 



POLITICAL HISTORY. 225 

He became identified with the Democratic party, 
becoming quite active in political contests even before 
he could vote, and was chosen delegate to the Dem- 
ocratic State Convention, at Indianapolis, that nom- 
inated General Tilghman A. Howard for governor. 
He made his first speech during the campaign which 
resulted in the election of General Harrison to the 
Presidency. Harrison was a Whig, an old man un- 
able to bear up under such a strain of excitement as 
was incident to that especial campaign, and only lived 
one month after his inauguration, leaving the presi- 
dential chair to Tyler, the Vice-president. He sep- 
arated from his party, and rapidly filled the offices 
with Democrats. It was then that Mr. English 
was appointed postmaster of Lexington, his native 
village. 

After the election of James K. Polk, Mr. English 
was made clerk in the Treasury Department at Wash- 
ington, and continued in the office during the full 
time of Polk's administration. 

When General Taylor was elected President, 
and Whigs again came into power, Mr. English re- 
signed his place, he being a strenuous opposer of 
the new President. We find him a clerk of the 
claims committee in the United States Senate dur- 
ing the famous session of the compromise of 1850. 
With such men as Calhoun, Cass, Clay, Webster, 
Douglas, Benton, and others as illustrious, is it to 
be wondered at that Mr. English's ambition should 
be fired and stimulated, his views broadened and 
deepened, while his influence was correspondingly 
increased? I5 



226 WILLIAM II. ENGLISH. 

At the close of the session he resigned his place, 
and returned to his home in time to lend his aid in 
revising- the State laws. It had been decided to 
call a State convention for this purpose, no change 
having - been made in the constitution since its 
adoption in 1816. Mr. English had the honor of 
being elected principal secretary in that convention. 
He also had the responsible task of attesting the 
constitution which the convention was nearly four 
months in preparing, and which was ratified by a 
large vote of the people. Mr. English had the 
supervision of the publication of the constitution, 
the journals, addresses, etc. 

When elected to the Legislature in 1851 it was 
against a strong opposition ; and being the first 
meeting under the provisions of the new laws, it 
required discretion and judiciousness to harmonize 
and arrange all the parts. Mr. English was chosen 
speaker. This alone was a great compliment, but it 
is further said that no appeal was ever taken from 
any of his decisions. 

In 1852 he was elected to the thirty-third Con- 
gress as a Democrat from the New Albany District, 
receiving 8,654 votes against 7,094 for John D. 
Ferguson, Whig, but with whom he was always 
on terms of the warmest personal intimacy. 

Mr. English took an active part in the election 
of Franklin Pierce, a man at that time but little 
known, but one who was really good and great. 
His opponent was the renowned General Winfield 
Scott. Mr. English went to Congress at the begin- 
ning of Mr. Pierce's administration, and was a strong 



IN CONGRESS. 



227 



and hearty supporter of its measures. This was 
the time for a pure patriot, as he was, to show 
forth his moral courage and devotion to his country. 
In this work he never disappointed his constituents 
nor his country. It was at this time the famous 
Kansas-Nebraska Bill was introduced. He was 
a member of the House Committee on Territories, 
which was charged with the considerations and 
report of the bill ; but the committee disagreed, 
and he, being in the minority, did not agree with 
the majority of the committee in the propriety 
and expediency of bringing forward the measure 
at that time, and made a minority report, on the 
31st of January, 1854, proposing several amend- 
ments. 

The above is but a mere outline of this man, 
who has grown with his State, receiving his strength 
from her strength as he added his labors with that 
of others to her support, and became identified with 
her interests and her prosperity. He is now in the 
prime of life, and has the reputation of being one 
of the foremost, far-seeing, and energetic business 
men of the country; and, too, at a time of life when 
it was considered that he had reached great dis- 
tinction in public life, having entered those fields in 
his early career, but voluntarily retired from it. 

Mr. English, in his earlier advantages of receiv- 
ing an education when his chances were few, is no 
exception to that class of log cabin graduates, who 
were better off with some of the severer struggles 
for an existence in securing an education, and the 
necessaries of life, than many of later times who 



228 WILLIAM II. ENGLISH. 

succeed not so well, geared up in so many didactical 
appliances of later methods. 

These are the men who have become distin- 
guished in war, politics, and literature, and they 
also are the men whose lives furnish the biographer 
the most interesting and instructive matter for publi- 
cation. These are the men, also, who once 
struggled in youth, but who persevered in all their 
subjection to the inconveniences of life, and brought 
forth characters at last clear as sparkling gems, 
and radiant with learning, wisdom, and experience. 
Mr. English's life demonstrates this assertion. His 
youthful industry furnishes the key to his success. 
The indomitable boy foreshadowed the man in the 
continuity and persistency of purpose, and he has 
carried it into his enterprises of manhood the same 
as he did when a youth. When he was a mere 
boy he solved the problems of life necessary to the 
entering of a higher sphere of usefulness when he 
should become a man, and this is the worthy ex- 
ample he has given 10 the youth of our country. 
Men having- such histories are the ones who have 
broad views on matters of great import on questions 
of government ; they are the men who are clear 
headed, who, with large experiences, can be trusted 
with the affairs of men. 

As a full history of this man will be of great 
interest, we will now go back and speak of his an- 
cestors, before going into fuller details of his per- 
sonal and political life. That of his father, especially, 
should be remembered in this connection. Major 
Elisha G. English, the father of our subject, was 



ELISHA G. ENGLISH. 229 

born ill Kentucky, from which State he moved to 
Indiana, and located in Scott County, in 1S1S. He 
died, at his son's residence, in Indianapolis, Novem- 
ber 14th, 1874, full of years and full of honors, 
having lived in his adopted State for over half a 
century. He is buried at Crown Hill Cemetery. 
When he first settled in this State, the great valley 
of the Mississippi, which is now an empire within 
itself in wealth and population, was a wilderness, 
comparatively speaking, and only a home for the 
wild and savage beast, and bands of roving Indians. 
This State, now sprung up as if by enchantment, 
becoming one of the galaxy of States near the 
center of this valley, which is now the home of 
more than two millions of people, and the land 
within its domain now teems with every luxury and 
blessing. When it first found a sisterhood with 
other States of our Union, the tread of the red 
man had scarcely ceased to be heard, as he prowled 
around the cabin of the adventurous and hardy 
pioneer on his errand of savage cruelty and death. 
It was in the days of the Pigeon Roost massacre, 
in which a number of men, women, and children 
were killed by the Indians, in Scott County, his own 
adopted district. 

He was one of fourteen children. His wife, also, 
the mother of our subject, was one, in her father's 
family, of seventeen children. She, also, was a 
native of Kentucky; was born in Fayette County, 
that State, but still lives, at the advanced age of 
eighty-two years, with her son, in Indianapolis, re- 
taining in a remarkable degree her health and all 



230 WILLIAM II. ENGLISH. 

her faculties. She is the daughter of Sarah Smith 
Eastin, who died near Madison, in the year 1843. 
She was married to Lieutenant Philip Eastin, at 
Winchester, Virginia, 1782, near which place she was 
born, being a member of the Hite family, who first 
settled the Shenandoah Valley. The prosperity of 
her early life gave place, in her old age, to poverty 
and the hardships of rearing a large family in a new 
country; but her life was a success. She had acted 
her part well, and died with the respect and love 
of those who knew her. In life she had her joys 
and her sorrows, but now she sleeps well. 

Of the grand-parents on the father's side, Elisha 
English, the grandfather, was born March 2d, 1768, 
near Laurel, Sussex County, Delaware. On De- 
cember 10, 1788, at twenty-two years of age, he 
married Miss Sarah Jane Wharton, and in the year 
1790, moved to Kentucky, and again moved in 1830, 
this time to Greene County, Illinois. He died at 
Louisville, Kentucky, March 7, 1857. His wife, 
Sarah Wharton English, died November 21. 1849, 
in the eighty-second year of her age. The husband 
and wife had lived together over sixty years, and 
before death had separated them could number two 
hundred living descendants. Their fourteen children 
all married, and had children, before a death occurred 
in the family. 

The grand-parents on the mother's side now 
sleep their last sleep, in the Riker's Ridge Ceme- 
tery, a beautiful and romantic spot near the Ohio 
River, a few miles north-east of Madison, Indiana; 
but we have already given their history in the fore- 



IN MEMORIAM. 231 

going, under that of Philip Eastin and Sarah Smith 
Eastin. 

The most that is known of these grand-parents, 
on either side, is furnished by the monuments with 
inscriptions in memoriam of the dead, by Mr. 
English. In this respect we are indebted to the 
veneration of Mr. English and for the love he bore 
his ancestors in furnishing us a history of his fore- 
parents. This beautiful element of character, ex- 
hibited in the man, draws the child back over the 
years that are past, into the history of parents and 
grand-parents, and farther still as the years roll on, 
bring to him such thoughts of the dead and of the 
living- as are calculated to incite to noble action and 
to elevate to a higher and holier life. In this we 
look with admiration upon Mr. English, as one who 
has profited by a contemplation of the worthy lives 
of his ancestors. He seems not to have been one 
who, while enjoying honors, took all praise to him- 
self, but lays his honors at the feet of his parents, 
and bestows his best love and highest veneration 
upon them. 

Instead of being weaned from these, and from 
his paternal home, his affections seem to be only the 
more firmly cemented to them. His mother, now 
past fourscore years, enjoys the greatest and best 
luxuries that wealth and love can procure. This 
characteristic trait every one will regard as great- 
ness and nobleness itself. 

Mr. English has an elegfant residence in Indian- 
apolis, which fronts upon a fine circular park, known 



232 WILLIAM II. ENGLISH. 

as " Governor's Circle," it being originally designed 
as a site for the residence of the governor of the 
State. His wealth is great, and has been accum- 
ulated by a fine tact, which has characterized him 
throughout his career, both in business and other- 
wise. He is now supposed to be worth several 
million dollars. He has admirable and valuable 
qualities as a business man. All schemes are care- 
fully examined, in all their bearings and possible or 
probable results. Nothing is undertaken without a 
careful survey, in all its parts, and when a course 
to pursue is once decided upon, his whole energy 
and strength is put forth, nor does he cease appli- 
cation until the end is accomplished. He is unde- 
monstrative, but works with a quiet determination 
which carries success before it. He is a man of 
great energy of character, as well as of unques- 
tionable integrity and firmness of purpose. As is 
usual — I might say almost invariably the case — 
in such a firm and sturdy character, Mr. English 
is retiring, and rather reserved, in his inter- 
course with the world ; but is not seemingly so 
to those with whom he is brought in contact in 
business or in the social circle. In his private 
and social life he is above reproach, and without a 
blemish. 

While not a man of many words, he yet makes 
his presence felt by the influence of a mind so strong 
and so highly cultivated and trained as to be utilized 
at any moment, in a practical, common-sense way. 
Brilliancy may not mark his path, or flowers of 



THE ENGLISH FAMILY. 233 

rhetoric adorn it ; but high, pure, and strong thoughts 
and actions hedge it about, and make it a safe high- 
way for those who follow after him. He may — and 
of course, does — differ in opinion with others, in 
politics, as in other matters of life and interest ; but 
all will testify that he is unflinching in his pro- 
tection of ricjht, and in what he feels to be his line 
of duty. 

Mr. English is tall — perhaps six feet high — large, 
and well-formed ; is of dark complexion ; wearing 
full, dark-brown whiskers ; head is good size, with a 
high, broad forehead ; is dignified and gentlemanly 
in manners, and of pleasant address. 

He was married, in November, 1847, m tne Cl ty 
of Baltimore, Maryland, to Miss Emma M. Jackson, 
of Virginia, the Rev. Henry Slicer, chaplain of the 
United States Senate, performing the ceremony. 
This estimable and accomplished lady died, at her 
home in Indianapolis, November 14, 1876, loved by 
her family and friends, and respected by all who 
knew her. 

Of the two children born, the son is Hon. W. E. 
English, a young man of promise, a member of the 
Indiana House of Representatives, being the third 
lineal descendant of the family who has held that 
exalted position, his father and grandfather having 
both preceded him. He is also the manager of 
English's new Opera-house, at Indianapolis; and 
lately married Miss Annie Fox, late juvenile lady of 
the Chestnut Street Theater dramatic company, 
Philadelphia. 

The daughter, Rosalind, is the wife of Dr. Wil- 



234 WILLIAMS. ENGLISH. 

loughby Walling, an eminent physician of Louisville, 
Kentucky. She is the mother of two children, 
William English Walling and Willoughby George 
Walling. 



LOG-CABIN AND HARD-CIDER CAMPAIGN. 235 



CHAPTER XXI. 

MR. ENGLISH IN HIS EARL V POLITICAL CAREER. 

ENTRANCE INTO POLITICS — HIS POSITION AS POSTMASTER — AS CLERK 
OF THE INDIANA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES — ON THE STUMP IN 
THE CANVASS OF 1844 — CLERK IN THE UNITED STATES TREASURY 
DEPARTMENT — A DEMOCRATIC FAMILY — ELECTED SECRETARY OF 
THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION — SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE — ■ 
TRAITS OF CHARACTER. 

AS has been stated, Mr. English entered political 
life at a very early age. His youthful ambi- 
tion to win success and honors urged him to make 
an effort in this direction ; but in later years he 
seems to have cared less for these emoluments and 
honors of office than formerly. He, however, was 
a Democrat by inheritance, and by the prominent 
and conspicuous part taken in politics thoroughly 
identified himself with the Democratic party. This 
party received his able services even before he be- 
came of age. His own county conferred the dis- 
tinguished honor upon him in these earlier years 
of his life by sending him to the Democratic State 
convention at Indianapolis, and calling him to the 
stump to take part in their gubernatorial contests. 
He also participated in the famous Log-cabin and 
Hard-cider campaign; but "Tippecanoe and Tyler 
too " did not prove as harmonious as was anticipated. 
The great question before Congress was the estab- 



236 WILLIAM II. ENGLISH. 

lishmcnt of a National Bank. A bill providing for 
such an institution was framed by Clay, and passed 
both houses ; but, to the indignation of the Whigs, 
it was vetoed by Tyler. Another bill, similar in 
substance but modified in some particulars, passed 
both houses of Congress, and was also vetoed by 
Tyler. Violent abuse was lavished upon the Pres- 
ident for thus defeating the favorite measure of the 
party that elected him ; yet Tyler was merely carry- 
ing out the principles which he had always held upon 
this subject. His cabinet all showed their disapproval 
by resigning, with the exception of Daniel Webster. 
Tyler was in unison with the Jackson movement, in 
1836, against the re-establishment of the United 
States Bank, and, after the vetoes of three bills, 
the Democratic party was again in the ascendency. 

Mr. English received from President Tyler an 
appointment as postmaster of Lexington, his native 
town, then the county-seat of Scott County. This 
was his first office of trust in which he received a 
remuneration; but in 1843 he was called to fill 
a higher position, and was chosen principal clerk 
of the House of Representatives of his State 
over a number of distinguished and trustworthy 
competitors. This was during the session that Lieu- 
tenant-governor Hon. Jesse D. Bright postponed 
the election of a United States Senator until the 
. next session by casting his vote for that purpose, 
and which resulted in his own election. 

During the time Mr. English was serving in the 
House as its clerk, James D. Williams, now the act- 
ing governor of the State, was, for the first time, a 



POLK AND DALLAS. 237 

member of the House. Mr. Williams has frequently 
mentioned Mr. English in connection with his ser- 
vices at that time, attesting the fact publicly that 
Mr. English had performed the duties of his office 
satisfactorily, having but one assistant, and that dur- 
ing these later years over a dozen clerks are em- 
ployed to perform the same work. 

Many of the distinguished members of that ses- 
sion are now passed away and gone from these 
earthly scenes, from which no return is ever made. 
Among this number may be mentioned W. A. 
Bowles, W. A. Gorman, J. S. Athon, Samuel W. 
Parker, Thomas Dowling, and Samuel Hannah. 
But of those still living may be mentioned the names 
of David Macy, W. W. Conner, David M'Clure, D. 
P. Holloway, and A. C. Handy. 

Mr. English had for a competitor the distin- 
guished colleague of his in Congress in after years, 
George Taylor, who, after his defeat in Indiana, 
went to New York, ancl was sent from that State to 
Congress a number of times. 

Soon after the close of the session of the Leeis- 
lature, the great Pesidential canvass of 1844 was 
opened. The Whigs had selected their great 
champion, who had a national reputation for his 
forensic abilities to lead their party in the canvass. 
Polk and Dallas were selected by the Democratic 
party as their representatives for the positions of 
President and Vice-president of the United States. 
Frelinghuysen was the Whig nominee for Vice- 
president. Polk and Dallas were up to that time 
but little known, and this raised the question as to 



238 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

who he was that the Democrats should brine but 
to fight with their Goliah ; but the Democrats did 
not put the strength of their man against Clay, so 
much as their cause which to them was right, and 
on the strength f |_ nc j r canvass sone: 

"On Polk and Dallas we'll unite 
Because their principles are right." 

The Whigs sneeringly confounded Polk with the 
plant known as Polk-stalk, which is said to be 
poison ; but the Democrats turned these sneers into 
profitable sentimentalisms, by singing again, with 

"We '11 teach the Whigs that Polk is poison 
To Henry Clay and Frelinghuysen ;" 

and thereafter adopted the Polk-stalk and hickory 
boughs as their emblems. Hickory was an emblem 
in honor of Polk, because of his native State, 
Tennessee, being that of Jackson also. 

This spirited canvass, probably far more so than 
any that yet preceded it, resulted in the election of 
the Democratic nominee for President, and Mr. 
English contributed a large share of work in that 
canvass. Politics at that time ran high, and the 
youthful speaker always gained audience. So much 
interest was taken in it, that every wagon on the 
highway would show whether or no, by its having 
or not having these emblems, it was owned by a 
Democrat. The houses throughout the country 
were or were not in the same way, as a general 
thing, so designated. 

After this election of Mr. Polk to the Presidency, 
in which Mr. English took an active part, as a 
strong and efficient politician, he was tendered an 



THE ENGLISH BROTHERS. 239 

opportunity in the Treasury Department at Wash- 
ington which he accepted, and continued to hold 
throughout that administration. In his duties he 
was not careful to disguise his principles, in order 
to hold his place, under an administration he would 
oppose. He voted for the nomination of Cass in 
opposition to Taylor, against the election of which 
he had used his best endeavors, and accordingly on 
the day preceding the inauguration, sent to Mr. Polk 
his letter of resignation, which set forth his views of 
Democratic principles so clearly, and to such an ex- 
tent, that it was copied by the Democratic press 
with comments, and which highly approved of the 
independent course taken by its author. 

Mr. English's father and his uncle Revel W, 
English were vice-presidents, and two other uncles 
were delegates in the National Convention of 1848, 
and four of the English brothers were members of 
the Legislature at the same time, each hailing from 
a different State, and each and all were Democrats. 
It was in this convention, where he first met 
the celebrated Samuel J. Tilden, who was a dele- 
gate from the State of New York. 

It will be observed from these relationships ex- 
isting in the family that Mr. English is a Democrat, 
at least a born one, if not by the sober judgment of 
his mature manhood ; and it may be further stated 
that he is of the decided opinion, after many years 
of experience, based upon an extensive knowledge 
of men and of the history of his country, that the 
principles of the Democratic party, if they prevail, 
will lead to a united and a prosperous country. We 



240 WILLIAM II. EXGLISU. 

have given portions of his utterances from time to 
time that our readers may judge for themselves 
whether or no his convictions are true or false. His 
own ideas of what these principles are advocated 
by the Democratic party can best be gathered by 
the following vigorous words : 

" I am for honesty in money as in politics and 
morals, and think the great material and business 
interests of this country should be placed upon a 
most solid basis, and as far as possible from the 
blighting influences of dema^oq-ues. At the same 
time, I am opposed to class legislation and in favor 
of protecting and fostering the interests of the labor- 
ing and producing classes in every legitimate way 
possible. A pure, economical, constitutional Govern- 
ment that will protect the liberty of the people and 
the property of the people without destroying the 
rights of the States or aggrandizing its own powers 
beyond the limits of the Constitution, is the kind of 
Government contemplated by the fathers, and by 
that I think the Democracy propose to stand." 

A man so vigorous in his speeches, and so active 
and earnest in the faith of his party, was not destined 
to remain inactive when his country was agitated on 
important and grave questions concerning her vital 
interests. He was clerk of the Claims Committee in 
the United States Senate during the memorable dis- 
cussions between Webster, Clay, Calhoun, Cass, Ben- 
ton, and other great statesmen. The United States 
Senate was at this time perhaps one of the most 
august bodies ever assembled in Washington. This 
was also during the session of 1850, when the Com- 



REVISION OF THE CONSTITUTION. 241 

promise Question was sprung and so earnestly de- 
bated. Mr. English being under sound of such 
teachings as fell from the lips of these men had the 
tendency to greatly strengthen his convictions in the 
principles of his own party, and at the same time 
broaden his views, inspire his ambition ; and in no 
small degree contributed in giving him influence in 
the councils of the nation when he was brought out 
so prominently in his own State Legislature. At 
the close of this session he resigned his position 
and returned to his home in Indiana. 

The old constitution of Indiana had been adopted 
in the year 1816. The people, feeling the need of 
a thorough revision, decided to call a convention for 
that purpose in 1850. The State having been safely 
steered through the dark as well as the bright days 
of history of nearly half a century, was loth to trust 
this revision needed to any other but the ablest and 
wisest men in the State. 

Out of this body of men that assembled at Indi- 
anapolis, in October of the year 1850, more than 
twenty of the members afterwards filled high posi- 
tions in the government of the State and of the 
United States, of which, at the head of this list, 
might be mentioned Colfax and Hendricks. The 
statement has been made that two were elected 
Vice-presidents (the two named above) two to the 
United States Senate, four to the supreme bench of 
the State, twelve were elected to Congress, two 
elected to State treasurer, two auditor of State, 
and others of this distinguished body to various 
positions of honor and trust. 

16 



242 WILLIAM II. ENGLISH. 

During the time spent in this arduous work that 
required a careful analysis of every resolution 
passed, and of every thing done in detail during the 
four months, sitting of that body, Mr. English had 
superior advantages of becoming thoroughly ac- 
quainted with the new constitution, and which infor- 
mation enabled him better probably than, any one 
else to become its exponent and defender. 

The people of his State, realizing that one good 
act should follow another, elected him to the Legis- 
lature of the State for the following sessions, honor 
being conferred by the body politic of his own county 
as representative of their district. This was in the 
year 1857, and just after the adoption of the new con- 
stitution. The Legislature during this session was 
under the necessity of enacting a number of new 
laws, and also of revising old ones in conformity to 
the new constitution, which had just been adopted. 
Mr. English, as a member of this body, had the 
excellent opportunity of becoming thoroughly con- 
versant with all the changes made in the govern- 
ment of his State and of their new code of laws. 
The work that would devolve upon this body would 
equal that of many times what would be required 
of a former Legislature, as the five hundred bills 
enacted upon testify, while the average number 
passed upon by previous bodies did not exceed fifty. 

Mr. English was twenty-nine years of age when 
he was elected to this body. He had had many 
advantages previous that were thoroughly educa- 
tional in their nature to fit him for the onerous 
duties that were in readiness for him during- the 



IN THE STATE LEGISLATURE. 243 

coming session. He had not only been a member 
of the body that formed the new constitution, but 
previous to this time had filled various offices in the 
government, State and national, in which much 
information and experience was obtained. 

After taking his seat as a member of the new 
Legislature, these facts were thoroughly ventilated 
among his fellow-members, and it was decided that 
probably Mr. English was best fitted for the re- 
sponsible duty of speaker of the House. There 
were many members, however, who had had more 
years of experience and were old members of the 
Legislature ; but when the caucus was made to nom- 
inate a speaker, Mr. English received twenty-two 
votes, to thirty-one to Hon. John W. Davis, who 
had been an old member of the United States House 
of Representatives, and had also been a minister to 
China. Hon. J. W. Davis, however, had a disagree- 
ment with the House early in the session, and re- 
signed. Mr. English was elected next day, by twenty- 
eight majority. 

But the most remarkable fact follows, in which 
Mr. English seemed so thoroughly conversant with 
the duties of his office — so clearly comprehended 
the work to be done, the subjects under discussion, 
in full and in detail — that during that long, laborious 
term, of three months, while forming new laws, in 
number exceeding any yet ever before the Legis- 
lature of Indiana at any one session, that no appeal 
was ever taken from his decisions. It must be re- 
membered that this also was the first session under 
the new constitution, and the first time Mr. English 



244 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

ever had the distinguished honor of being a member 
of that body. In the course of his remarks, upon 
taking the chair, he said : 

"We represent, in the aggregate, a million of 
people, with, probably, as many great interests to 
protect, and conflicting opinions to reconcile, as can 
be found in any State of the confederacy. The 
new constitution, as well as the wishes of our con- 
stituents, demands the enactment of a full and com- 
plete code of laws, general in their application, 
corresponding with and carrying out the principles 
of the constitution, adapted to the spirit of the age 
and to the wants and expectations of the people. 
The limits and restrictions thrown around future 
Legislatures by our organic law make it necessary 
that our great work should be completed at the 
present session. If well done, as it should be, it is 
truly a Herculean task, requiring a greater research 
and more intense application and labor than has de- 
volved upon all the Legislatures of the State com- 
bined, for the last eight years." 

This was the most important Legislature ever 
held, probably, in the State. Mr. English's valedic- 
dictory, with what he has already said, will give a 
full idea of the magnitude of the work of that mem- 
orable session of 185 1. His statements are clear 
and concise, as they have ever been found to be. 
He said : 

"Never have I known the members of any as- 
sembly manifest stricter integrity of purpose, more 
laborious application, more gentlemanly deportment, 
or a greater desire to promote the interest of 



THE MEMORABLE SESSION. 245 

the people, and avoid the useless consumption of 
time. 

"It is true, the session has been of unusual 
length, but no one conversant with what was to do 
expected it to be otherwise. The Constitutional 
Convention, foreseeing the necessity, wisely ex- 
empted the first General Assembly from restriction 
as to the length of the session. The whole temple of 
government, from spire to foundation stone, had to 
be taken down, remodeled, and rebuilt, so as to con- 
form to the new constitution and the progress and 
improvements of the age. 

"An examination of the acts of the previous 
Legislatures, other than local, will show that the 
average number passed at each session does not 
exceed fifty. There has been introduced into the 
present General Assembly not less than five hun- 
dred and sixty bills, besides innumerable resolutions, 
constitutional inquiries, reports, and propositions; 
some of them involving questions of the greatest 
moment, and all requiring more or less considera- 
tion. Of all the bills introduced, some two hundred 
and fifty have become laws of the land — probably 
equaling the aggregate number of general acts 
passed by the five preceding Legislatures — extending 
to every essential subject of government, and rec- 
onciling differences and interests widely sundered 
by geographical positions, diversity of habits, opin- 
ions, and employments, inequality in the size of the 
counties, and the previous acts of local legislation." 

Mr. English concluded by saying, "If a feeling 
of enmity has been engendered in any heart, let it 



24G WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

not be taken beyond these walls ; let us separate as 
a band of brothers, each one prepared to say of the 
other through the rest of life, 'He is my friend; 
we served together in the first Legislature under the 
new constitution.' " 

Upon motion of Andrew Humphrey, Mr. Eng- 
lish was placed in nomination for speaker. Mr. 
Humphrey was then a representative from Greene 
County, and an intimate friend of Mr. English. 
The motion was seconded by the representative of 
Montgomery County, since then a member of Con- 
gress, had served gallantly in two wars, and at the 
present time is auditor of State. 

Among those who participated with Mr. English 
in this work, and who it is believed are still living, 
many of them now well known, are the following : 
I. D. G. Nelson, A. J. Hay, W. S. Holman, P. M. 
Kent, D. C. Stover, J. F. Huffstetter, G. O. Behm, 
J. V. Lindsey, Willard Carpenter, R. M. Hudson, 
J. F. Suit, Calvin Cowgill, H. Brady, R. Huey, J. 
Dice, Judge Gookins, Shanklin, Foster, and King. 

Many of the members have also passed away. 
Among that number may be mentioned Robert 
Dale Owen, John VV. Davis, J. R. M. Bryant, and 
General Schoonover. 

Before Mr. English took his seat as speaker of 
the House, he was also honored for one of his 
years, by the former speaker, Hon. J. W. Davis, 
by being selected for important committees ; and 
was selected for that most critical duty of revising 
the laws of the State, but in this declined. Yet as 
speaker of the House, in which decisions had to be 



THE MASTER MIND. 247 

rendered involving questions, not only of a legal 
nature, but suggestions, originations, etc., such as 
the change in the system of taxing railroads, and 
the substitution of the present short form of deeds, 
mortgages, etc., for the long intricate forms 
now in use. 

In this chapter the history of Mr. English is 
given up to the time of his entrance into Congress, 
and its aim has been to show the force and energy 
of the man, that led him on gradually, yet rapidly, 
up one step after another, until recognized by the 
leading men in the State as a man having a tower- 
ing intellect, as being ambitious, as one possessing 
all the elements, of a bold successful leader, and 
also as one capable of making an impress upon 
measures of every deliberative body, and as a man 
who naturally takes the lead, leaning upon no one 
for support when entangled within the mazy ques- 
tions of law and politics. 



248 WILLIAM II. ENGLISH. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

ENGLISH IN CONGRESS. 

ENGLISH IN CONGRESS — THE CONFLICTING VIEWS ON SLAVERY — THE 
KANSAS NEBRASKA TROUBLE — BOUNDARY LINES — THE TWO STATE 
GOVERNMENTS — AMENDMENTS PROPOSED BY MR. ENGLISH — POPULAR 
SOVEREIGNTY — MR. ENGLISH ON SLAVERY — THE AUTHOR'S VIEWS 
ON THESE QUESTIONS. 



AFTER Mr. English had been so highly hon- 
ored by his constituents in the various po- 
sitions he had already filled with so much credit to 
himself and satisfaction to his country, the people 
of his congressional district held honors awaiting 
him as their representative to the United States 
Congress. He had been successful, so far, in se- 
curing golden opinions from his party, for his reli- 
ability and sound views, from a Democratic stand- 
point. He, being an able exponent of their princi- 
ples, was selected as their standard-bearer against 
an opponent who had an opposition majority in his 
favor and against any Democratic candidate, who- 
ever he might be. The former experience closely 
related to the technicalities of party politics, while 
revising laws and discussing principles of govern- 
ment was the crucial test, in which he not only 
showed greatness, but which was of incalculable 
benefit to him in unraveling the. doubtful issues of 
the campaign. 



FIRST TERM IN CONGRESS. 249 

Mr. English's entrance to Congress was at a 
time when the greatest political questions that ever 
agitated the minds of some of our wisest statesmen 
were beginning to darken our political horizon in a 
cyclone of anger and feverish heat. 

In the administrations preceding this one, under 
which Mr. English served, the opposing principles 
of slavery extension or slavery restriction entered 
largely, as elements of party zeal and political con- 
troversy, into the Presidential election ; and in the 
bitter contests the sections were so discontented 
that neither the North nor the South could aoree 
satisfactorily on the great questions under consid- 
eration. And at the time when he was called, no 
greater opportunities had ever been presented in 
the history of our republic for the display of forensic 
abilities. 

The most exciting questions that arose during 
Mr. English's first session in Congress were the one 
in regard to slavery, and the territorial organization 
of an extensive tract of land now comprising a great 
portion of territory west of the Mississippi River. 
This large tract had once been assigned as a patri- 
mony of the Government to the Indians ; but the 
tide of civilized immigration from the East filled up 
the country to such an extent that the thirty-third 
Congress was called upon to provide a government 
for the vast hordes that had flocked thither. 

The disputed territory lies north of 36 30', and 
was cut off from slavery by the Missouri Com- 
promise, and was then included in a part of the 
great Louisiana purchase. Mr. Douglas, in the 



250 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

year 1854, introduced a bill for the organization of 
this region into two territories, to be known as 
Kansas and Nebraska. In this bill was also a pro- 
viso that the Missouri Compromise should not be 
applied to them, inasmuch as it had been rendered 
invalid by the compromise measures of 1850; and 
it was proposed by Mr. Douglas to leave the ques- 
tion of slavery or freedom to the occupants, and for 
them alone to decide, when they should seek to be 
admitted into the Union. 

The question of popular sovereignty, as it is 
called, stirred up the political factions throughout 
the whole country, and it was a time for Mr. En- 
glish for the display of his unselfish patriotism, 
lofty purpose, moral courage, and his unwavering 
devotion to the Constitution. It should be remem- 
bered that both factions had attempted to overrun 
Kansas with emigrants, and in the rush made, the 
country was filled with both parties of such con- 
flicting opinions as to engender bitter hostilities to- 
ward each other. 

The first election was held in November, 1850, 
in the triumph of the pro-slavery party, for a dele- 
gate to Congress. This body assembled in Le- 
compton. They also elected a legislature, and 
proceeded to draw up a code of laws for the gov- 
ernment of the new State. The free-State men 
dissenting, assembled in a body, at Topeka, and 
also drew up a form of government for the people. 
These two sets of authorities clashed, and soon war 

was the result. 

The Know-nothings or Americans now appeared 



THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL. 251 

in the field, having for their cardinal principle, a 
united opposition to foreign influence, their motto 
being "America should be ruled by Americans." 
The Whig party, from that time lost their identity, 
many joining the Know-nothings. Others, uniting 
with the Free-soil Democrats, organized a new 
party, under the name of Republicans; and this in 
1856, brought out three parties — the Democrats, 
who were in favor of letting slavery extend wherever 
it found its way, by the voice of the people to be 
governed, the Republicans, and the Americans. 
The Republicans were made up of Whigs and Amer- 
icans and Free-soil Democrats. Mr. English was, 
as always, a Democrat. 

The foregoing, although somewhat more lengthy 
than was desired, is necessary to a full understand- 
ing of Mr. English's position on this question. 

As soon as Mr. English took his seat in Con- 
gress, the famous Kansas-Nebraska bill was intro- 
duced. He became warmly engaged in the issues 
on this question immediately. Both the House and 
Senate bill, at the time Mr. English made his 
minority report, contained a provision "that the 
Constitution and all laws of the United States 
which are not locally inapplicable shall have the 
same force and effect within the said Territory as 
elsewhere in the United States." 

This minority report made on the 31st of Janu- 
ary, 1854, proposing several important amendments, 
which although not directly adopted, for reasons 
hereafter explained, probably led to modifications 
of the bill of the Senate, which bill was finally 



202 WILLIAM II. ENGLISH. 

adopted as an amendment to the House bill, and 
enacted into laws. 

Following is his speech on that occasion giving 
the amendments he proposed : 

"As an humble member of the Committee on 
Territories, I desire to say that the bill which has 
just been reported does not in its present shape 
meet with the approval of all the gentlemen on that 
committee. Some, I believe, oppose it because it 
conflicts with the act of 1820, known as the 
Missouri Compromise. I am not going to make a 
speech, but there are a few objections to the bill, 
which I beg to put forward on the present occasion, 
so that my position may not be misunderstood by 
my constituents. 

"In the first place, I object to the boundaries 
proposed. The country to be organized into Terri- 
tories, as gentlemen are aware, lies, in the main, 
adjacent to and west of the States of Missouri and 
Iowa, and extends westwardly to the Territories of 
Utah, Oregon and perhaps Washington. Now 
what are the natural boundaries of these proposed 
Territories ? I design speaking more particularly of 
the Territory of Kansas, which is the lower and 
more southern of the two Territories, and the one in 
which slavery will exist, if it exists at all. Now, of 
course, all will say that the eastern boundary ol the 
proposed Territory of Kansas should be the present 
boundary of the State of Missouri ; and I think that 
it is equally clear that the western boundary of the 
proposed Territory of Kansas should be the pre- 
sent boundary of Utah Territory ; and I think that 



THE DELICATE QUESTION. 253 

this will appear in a much stronger light when we 
come to consider the nature of the existing bound- 
ary of Utah. Sir, what is it? We find it established 
by law. We find that it is the crest or summit of the 
Rocky Mountains — a boundary, sir, which no man can 
mistake — a boundary, sir, erected by the hand of the 
Almighty, that all men can understand it. I say, sir, 
that this is the natural boundary which should be as- 
signed to the Territory, and I think that this House 
will be surprised to know that it is not the boundary 
proposed by the bill now under consideration. 

"Sir, the framers of this bill proposed extend- 
ing the Territory of Kansas, not only from the 
State of Missouri, westward to the Rocky Mount- 
ains, a distance perhaps of eight hundred miles, a 
distance equal to the width of the great States of 
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, not only to take it to 
the summit of the mountain, but to take it beyond 
and run it' down to the regions of the great Salt 
Lake, so as to include about one-third of the 
Territory of Utah. 

"I now pass to another point on which I pur- 
pose briefly to speak. 

"Sir, there is another question involved in this 
bill, a question of immense magnitude and great 
delicacy, and one in which I know it behooves gen- 
tlemen who reside in certain quarters to speak with 
a degree of caution ; but I, for one, am not afraid 
to face the music, and I am willing to give, so far 
as I am able, a reason for the faith that is in me. 
I, of course, allude to that most exciting of all sub- 
jects, African slavery. Sir, I am a native of a free 



254 WILLI A M IT. ENGLISH. 

State, and have no love for the institution of slav- 
ery. I regard it as an injury to the State where it 
exists, and if it were proposed to introduce it where 
I reside, I would oppose it to the last extremity. 
But, sir, I never can forget that we are a confederacy 
of States, possessing equal rights under our glorious 
Constitution ; that if the people of Kentucky believe 
the institution of slavery would be conducive to their 
happiness, they have the same right to establish and 
maintain it that we of Indiana have to reject it; and 
this doctrine is just as applicable to States hereafter 
to be admitted as to those already in the Union. I 
approve, then, of that part of the bill which provides 
that these Territories, when they are to be admitted 
as States, shall be admitted with or without slavery, 
as their constitutions may prescribe. 

" But, sir, I go a step further than the bill under 
consideration. Unless it be by implication, I am 
willing to trust the people with the power of regu- 
lating their domestic institutions in their own way, 
through their regularly constituted territorial legis- 
lature. I hold that if the people are of sufficient 
numbers and importance to merit a territorial gov- 
ernment at all they are capable of governing them- 
selves in all things. I would refer the question of 
slavery, and all other questions, to that best and 
safest of all tribunals, the people to be governed. 
They are the best judges of the soil and climate 
and wants of the country they inhabit. They are 
the true judges of what will best suit their own 
condition and promote their welfare and happiness. 

"I am opposed to admitting slavery into these 



TERRITORIAL LEGISLATION. 255 

Territories and placing it out of the reach of the 
people until a formation of a State government ; and 
it is in part because the bill is not explicit on this 
head that I dislike it. I want to see the power 
given expressly to the people from the beginning to 
regulate their institutions in such a manner as they 
think proper, not inconsistent with the Constitution 
of the United States. For these reasons I shall 
propose an amendment in lieu of the following words, 
which I shall move to strike out of the bill : 

"'Except the eighth section of the act, prepara- 
tory to the admission of Missouri into the Union, 
approved March 6, 1820, which was superseded by 
the principles of the legislation of 1850, commonly 
called the Compromise Measures, and is hereby de- 
clared inoperative.' 

"Now, I am opposed to making war upon a life- 
less body, or mutilating the slain. If the act of 
1820 was superseded by the act of 1850, why repeal 
the former ? or, when repealed by express words, 
why go on to recite that the act repealed has al- 
ready been superseded by another act ? and, still 
further, to declare that act inoperative which has al- 
ready been superseded and expressly repealed ? I 
neither propose to legislate slavery into these Terri- 
tories, or to legislate it out; but I do propose to 
give the people of these Territories the right to pass 
such laws as they may think proper, not inconsist- 
ent with the Constitution of the United States ; and 
I expressly propose to repeal all acts of Congress 
(if any there be) conflicting with that right. This, 
I conceive, is the only principle upon which a per- 



256 WILLI A M II. ENGLISH. 

manent and final settlement of this unfortunate ques- 
tion can ever be made. 

"The substance of the amendment which I pro- 
pose in reference to the slavery question is, to give 
to the people of the Territory, through the regularly 
constituted legislative authority, the right to pass 
such laws in relation to the institution of slavery, 
not inconsistent with the Constitution of the United 
States, as they may deem most conducive to their 
happiness and welfare, and I propose to repeal so 
much of any existing act of Congress as may con- 
flict with the right of the people to regulate their 
domestic institutions in their own way." 

Mr. English's amendment is: 

''Provided, that nothing in this act shall be so 
construed as to prevent the people of said Territory, 
through the properly constituted legislative author- 
ity, from passing such laws in relation to the institu- 
tion of slavery not inconsistent with the Constitution 
of the United States, as they may deem best adapted 
to their locality and most conducive to their happi- 
ness and welfare ; and so much ol any existing act 
of Congress as may conflict with the above right of 
the people to regulate their domestic institutions in 
their own way be, and the same is hereby, repealed." 

We each and all may have our own views on 
these questions, that are not strictly conformable to 
the above. And Mr. Greeley likewise, who ex- 
presses his opinion in his "American Conflict," that 
this bill, in all probability, could not have been de- 
feated on the call of the yeas and nays ; and then 
speaks of the parliamentary maneuver which was 



AMENDMENT TO THE BILL. 257 

resorted to at that time, which cut off all amend- 
ments for the substitution of the Senate bill for the 
bill of the House. Thus, says Mr. Greeley, "The 
opponents of the measure in the House were pre- 
cluded from proposing any amendments or modifica- 
tions whatever when it is morally certain that, had 
they been permitted to do so, some such amend- 
ment as Governor Chase's or Mr. English's would 
have been carried." 

The parliamentary maneuver referred to brought 
the House to a vote on the Senate bill, which, in 
the mean time, had been offered as a substitute for 
the House bill, was adopted, and became the law. 
There was one point in Mr. Greeley's account that 
was not very clearly developed. The Senate and 
House bill was one and the same on the 31st of 
January, when the amendment by Mr. English was . 
offered, but when the House before this substituted 
the Senate bill for its own and passed it, material 
modifications had been made in the Senate bill, 
making it the modified bill, and not the bill itself, 
that became a law. Thus we have the fact that two 
weeks after Mr. English submitted his amendments 
(the Senate and House bills being up at the same 
time in substantially the same shape) the Senate 
adopted an amendment submitted by Senator Doug- 
las, striking out a portion of the same clause. Mr. 
English proposed to striking out and substituting 
the following : 

"Which, being inconsistent, were the principle 
of non-intervention by Congress with slavery in the 
States and territories, as recognized by the legisla- 

17 



258 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

tion of 1850, commonly called the Compromise Meas- 
ure, is hereby declared inoperative and void, it 
being the true intent and meaning of this act not to 
legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor to 
exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people their 
right of being perfectly free to form and regulate 
their domestic institutions in their own way, subject 
only to the Constitution of the United States." 

This amendment was satisfactory to some of the 
members, who at first regarded the measure with 
little disfavor. A comparison will show to what 
extent it embodied or harmonized with the amend- 
ment Mr. English had previously offered. The Con- 
gressional Record shows that Mr. English brought 
forward the popular " sovereignty " idea in the minor- 
ity report, made by him to the House of represen- 
tatives in January; that the same idea was made 
and submitted by him in February, and adopted by 
that body. The House adopted the amended bill 
of the Senate as a substitute for the House bill, 
and it then became a law ; but for this reason the 
public attention was directed almost exclusively to 
the Senate bill. Mr. English's objections to the pro- 
posed boundaries of the Territory were also obviated 
by amendments, and the great desire of the Demo- 
cratic members North and South to be harmonious 
throughout induced them, free States as otherwise, 
to vote for the Bill, but thought, as Mr. English, 
that its introduction was unfortunate and ill-timed. 

Mr. Douglas was the great leader of the popular 
sovereignty idea, and Mr. English was his warm 
supporter in carrying out those measures in the ad- 



THE SLA VEE Y Q UESTION. 259 

vocacy of that principle. Upon some minor points 
these two men differed from each other, yet they 
were always warm personal friends, and did much 
for the upholding of each other's political views. 

Mr. English also took an active part in the dis- 
cussions relative to the slavery question, which had 
had been going on some years previous to his en- 
trance to Congress, and was increasing in interest 
constantly. But most of the time it was under such 
excited considerations, he was a member of Con- 
gress, and was more or less identified with the 
measures involving that momentous question. We 
will here briefly allude to his position occupied upon 
this great question of the age, as gleaned from his 
speeches from the Congressional history of the 
period. 

In one of his speeches Mr. English said: "I am 
a native of a free State, and have no love for the 
institution of slavery. Aside from the moral ques- 
tion involved, I regard it as an injury to the State 
where it exists ; and if it were proposed to intro- 
duce it where I reside, would resist it to the last 
extremity." 

On the other hand, Mr. English would leave the 
people of every other State and Territory perfectly 
free to form and regulate their domestic institutions 
in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of 
the United States. 

These views created a furor of excitement, and 
the storm raised by the Kansas-Nebraska bill re- 
sulted in the defeat of nearly all the members 
of the free States who voted for it, Mr. English 



260 WILLIAM II. ENGLISH. 

being one of only three members who survived the 
storm. 

While Mr. English was advocating these views, 
he also spared no pains to denounce the aggressive 
measures of the Abolitionists, and their personal 
agitation of the subject. He believed in faithfully 
maintaining all the rights of the slave-holding State, 
as guaranteed by the Constitution, and that it would 
be wisest to refer the question to the people of the 
country they inhabit — the people to be governed ; 
and also stated, while speaking for himself and his 
constituents, "We do not like this institution of 
slavery, neither in its moral, social, nor political 
bearings ; but consider it as a matter which, like all 
other domestic affairs, each organized community 
ought to be allowed to decide for itself." 

This, in short, is the history of this man during 
his first session in Congress. We do not entertain 
these notions on many points, but as it is his history 
we are writing, and not ours, we are under the ne- 
cessity of giving his opinions. 

The Democratic party of that time labored, as 
they supposed, for the greatest good to the greatest 
number, and yet recognize the institution of slavery 
as a constitutional right. Then why legislate for a 
limited and a select few in the South — an autocratic 
body — to the utter disregard of the masses of that 
section ? to uphold, by constitutional right, the 
grandest monopoly ever started, that only increased 
the wealth of a very limited number, at the cost of 
even school-houses and church buildings for the 
great majority ? I speak of the poorer class of the 



OUE STATESMEN TO BLAME. 261 

white population, who, ignorant in consequence of 
their circumstances, had no rights. 

If the Constitution winked at slavery, that clause 
so construed should have received legislation, let it 
cost (in a monetary sense) what it would. 

The great statesmen of that day should have 
gone about the work, as they would have done 
about the house in which they lived — if one corner 
of the foundation was found sinking, tear it down, 
and build anew. Likewise, this structure of our 
Government — one corner resting upon a sink-pool 
of immorality, having no more right for an implied 
protection in the Constitution than the greatest 
wrong ever committed — has no right to stand, 
simply because the government, once upon a time, 
made that wrong a right by the enactment of a law 
covering the case. 

The people of the Southern Confederacy were 
not to blame for this wrong. They acted, in those 
days, previous to the war of the rebellion, not dif- 
ferent from what the North would have done had 
the two sections, so diametrically opposed, exchanged 
their places of abode. 

The institution of slavery was engrafted upon 
them ; was supported by the Constitution ; and the 
people strengthened in their convictions of their 
right to perpetuate this institution from the educa- 
tional circumstances of their surroundings. And as 
such we will admit they deserved charitable legis- 
lation in regard to the subject. But now, after 
twenty years of reflection, the South (the same as 
the North) looks upon this question in a different 



262 WILLIAM B. ENGLISH. 

light, and the clear-headed statesmen of that period, 
in advocating their doctrines of popular sovereignty 
(popular popularity?), were undemocratic in prin- 
ciple in compromising with wrong, to the injury and 
at the expense of the rights of others. These 
States of our glorious Union were regarded as so 
many children in the family membership. Slavery, 
as polygamy, should receive no support for its per- 
petuation, as the same is hurtful to the interests 
and rights of others. 

Our late struggle cost the North alone as much 
money as would have been necessary to have bought 
up every slave in the South at a good round figure ; 
while the country sacrificed nearly one million of 
her sons to settle this fratricidal strife. 



KNOW-NOTHINGISM. 263 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

MR. ENGLISH ON THE WAR QUESTION. 

HIS VIEWS ON KNOW-NOTHINGS — AS REGENT OF THE SMITHSONIAN IN- 
STITUTE — RE-ELECTION TO CONGRESS — VIEWS ON SLAVERY — THE 
ENGLISH BILL — CONGRATULATIONS FROM THE PRESIDENT — EXPLANA- 
TIONS OF THE ENGLISH BILL — NOTABLE CONTESTS FOR THE SPEAK- 
ERSHIP. 

IN 1852, Mr. English was elected to Congress, 
by a majority of four hundred and eighty-eight, 
and in the second election by a majority of five hun- 
dred and eighty-eight, and in both campaigns over 
opponents who were good strong men — John D. Fer- 
guson, in 1852, and Judge Thomas C. Slaughter — 
both bitter partisans of that day, but warm personal 
friends of Mr. English. These two opponents are 
now deceased. 

The political tempest that hailed Mr. English 
upon taking his seat in Congress the second session 
was the Know-nothingism which agitated the country, 
and, like the principles advocated in other parties, 
engendered some feeling in the discussions that fol- 
lowed. 

Mr. English looked upon the coming storm as 
threatening to the traditions and laws of the country 
in the extreme, and that it would create most odious 
distinctions of citizenship, based upon religion and 
nationality. Never did the war of prejudice and 



liG4 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

ignorance strike with more power the sacred guar- 
antees of the nation's rights, and threaten to over- 
whelm our country in one common ruin, than the 
tidal wave of popular feeling then coming. The pub- 
lic mind, at that time, was permeated with hostility 
towards men of foreign birth, and the religious ani- 
mosities were defiant and repulsive in the extreme. 
This new doctrine taught that Americans should 
rule America; that foreign-born citizens should be 
ostracised, and that man's freedom to worship God 
as he deemed best was to be (it was feared), to some 
extent, restricted. The young and the old readily 
took up with this new doctrine, and in every section 
of the country organized Know-nothing lodges. 
This brought differences of opinions and distrust 
into every home, and in every hiding-place and in 
every meeting of a mysterious order. 

The opposition parties brought out their most 
available candidates, who tenaciously clung to their 
dogmas, and foueht the new hated monster with all 
the venom at command. Mr. English was one who 
dreaded the approach of the coming storm, but, 
actuated by a nobler feeling than mere personal 
ones, threw himself into the work of self-abnegation, 
which commanded the applause of all sensible, right- 
thinking men. He naturally was logical in drawing 
his inferences, and with the power or force of speech 
that he was able to bring to bear on the question, 
was successful in battering down some of sophisms, 
prejudices, and the controlling spirit of exclusive- 
ness, whenever and wherever it was met and offered 
resistance. 



KILLED BY MOBS. 265 

The Know-nothing party, after a brief period, 
lost its supremacy, and the people regained their 
lost feelings in regard to this subject. It did its 
work ; if it was in negative results, that came after- 
wards ; but, like witchcraft, or other delusions, it 
needed to be hunted down with all the earnestness 
its opponents could bring to bear. The success at- 
tending this victory was due to the untiring energy 
and perseverance of the Democratic party, of which 
no man contributed more, probably, than did William 
H, English. 

At the time this new doctrine was fanned into a 
flame the country was growing in a state of fanatical 
agitation throughout the land, and this only added 
to that condition. In the Second Congressional 
District, in which Mr. English resided, the Know- 
nothing principles were carried out in their practical 
applications, and several foreigners, just across the 
Ohio River at Louisville, were killed by a mob, 
growing out of the Know-nothing agitation. Thus 
Indiana and Kentucky, along the river at that place, 
were extremely radicalistic, one way or the other ; 
and this fever, raging so terribly among Mr. Eng- 
lish's own home countrymen, incensed his feeling 
more than it probably would have been otherwise. 
He unhesitatingly, and with a boldness that ever 
afterward characterized him, fought the doctrines of 
the Know-nothing party, and the "Search, Seizure, 
and Confiscation Temperance Law" party upon the 
stump, and victoriously triumphed over his oppo- 
nents. This was at a time when Indiana had be- 
come strongly Republican and Know-nothing, and 



2G6 WILLIAM II. ENGLISH. 

Mr. English was one of the only two Democrats 
the State sent to Congress at that election. The 
fight on the stump strengthened his reputation, and 
since that time he has always been popular with 
the foreign population. 

He continued to support the administration of 
Mr. Pierce during the thirty-third Congress. 

He was regent of the Smithsonian Institute for 
eight years, and while serving in this capacity, and 
during this Congress, made a speech in the defense 
of the institution that received the hearty commen- 
dation of most of the ablest men in the country. 
Also, among this number he secured the approval 
of such scholars and scientific men as Professor 
Henry and Charles Henry Davis. Mr. Davis went 
so far as to write a letter, in which he said Mr. 
English was entitled to the gratitude and friendly 
consideration of every scientific man in the country 
whose opinions are thought worth repeating. 

Professor Henry, who was on most intimate 
terms with Mr. English, also commended this speech, 
saying that it was admirable, and would redound to 
the credit of the author as well as to the advantage 
of the institution. Professor Henry also warmly 
commended Mr. English's (while the latter was re- 
gent of the Smithsonian Institute) management of 
the finances, which proved so successful and satisfac- 
tory. Professor Henry was the principal manager 
of this great institution, and was one of the foremost 
men of science in not only America, but in the Old 
World as well. 

'•Mr. English's high attainments in scholarship, 



THE FORTY-TWO BALLOTS. 267 

with his thorough knowledge of law, politics, etc., 
enables the man to rise higher than the sordid 
speeches of caucus meetings, and the usual combats 
among partisan leaders. His qualities of states- 
manship enter into the realm of science and art, and 
draws after him his constituency to a higher plane, 
from which position a more enlightened view of our 
government can be taken. A statesmanship that is 
so ennobling, elevating, and culturing in its influence 
as that of our subject will always receive recog- 
nition from the best men of our country. 

Mr. English had never been an office-seeker. 
The preceding official positions held had generally 
been conferred upon him without his own solic- 
itation. Neither was he an ambitious aspirant in 
this direction, and at the end of his second term 
in Congress, avowed his intention of not being a 
candidate for Congress again, and likewise re- 
quested his constituents to select some other per- 
son. The convention met, then, for the purpose of 
nominating some other person ; but after balloting 
forty-two times without making a choice, finally 
determined unanimously to insist upon Mr. English 
taking the field again for the third time, which he 
reluctantly consented to do, and was elected by a 
larger majority than ever before. 

After taking his seat in Congress, the speaker 
appointed him chairman of the Committee on Post- 
offices and Post Roads ; but he was also brought 
out prominently on the great question of slavery, 
which increased his reputation and gave him a wide 
berth for the display of his great abilities. 



268 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

This was during President Buchanan's admin- 
istration, which was one of constant disquiet, that 
disturbed the peace of that irritating- question, that 
severed the mutual relationship existing between 
the North and South. There were many questions 
then under consideration, that tended to keep ex- 
citement up to its highest pitch throughout the 
session. The " Dred Scott Decision" was one, 
which was to the effect that negro slaves or their 
descendants are not by the Constitution citizens of 
the United States. And the excitement following 
this, and adding to it was the passage in several of 
the free States of what were called " personal 
liberty bills," which was for the purpose of pre- 
venting the execution of the fugitive slave act. 
And there was John Brown, who, with twenty-one 
others, seized upon the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, 
for the purpose of exciting an insurrection. 

The agitation of slavery still continued, and at 
length the admission of Kansas as a State was 
asked for under what was called the Lecompton 
constitution, which did not prohibit slavery. It was 
favored by President Buchanan's administration and 
the South, but was strongly opposed by Mr. Eng- 
lish and others, mainly on the ground that there 
had been no satisfactory vote in its favor by the 
people of Kansas. 

The controversy had assumed a new and more 
serious form than ever before. There was so much 
excitement, outlawry, and violence in Kansas at this 
time, that it was difficult to determine at times what 
had been done in a lawful manner and what had not. 



KANSAS POLICY. 269 

Mr. English gained a high and well merited rep- 
utation in this Congress by the course he took upon 
the Kansas policy of the administration. He re- 
mained firm in his opposition to the admission of 
Kansas under the Lecpmpton constitution, until it 
had been ratified by a vote of the people. 

Heretofore he had been a supporter and warm 
advocate of the measures of the Democratic adminis- 
tration, and now he shows a willingness to make all 
reasonable concessions, and, so far as possible con- 
sistent with his moral obligations, will be with the 
party of his choice. He could well see the drift of 
the course pursued, and determined if possible to 
arrest that which he felt to be an evil, both in itself 
and in its influences on the country at large ; for the 
consequences of the administration of Kansas, under 
the Lecompton constitution, would not be confined 
to that little State alone, but would at once open 
the way and invite the following of others as they 
come forward from time to time, seeking for a place 
in the circle of States ; and further, it would add bold- 
ness and perseverance in all the advocates, and ad- 
herents to the principles and the practices of slavery. 

•In the closing paragraph of the speech delivered 
by him in the House of Representatives in exposi- 
tion of his views upon that question, he clearly de- 
fined his position and his ultimatum. 

"I think before Kansas is admitted, her people 
ought to ratifiy, or at least have a fair opportunity 
to vote upon, the constitution under which it is pro- 
posed to admit her ; at the same time, I am not so 
wedded to any particular plan that I may not, for 



270 WILLIAM II. ENGLISH. 

the sake of harmony, and a choice of evils, make 
reasonable concessions, provided the substance 
would be secured, which is the making of the con- 
stitution, at an early day, conform to the public will, 
or, at least, that the privilege and opportunity of 
so making it be secured to the people beyond all 
question. Less than this would not satisfy the ex- 
pectations of my constituents, and I would not be- 
tray their wishes for any earthly consideration. If, on 
the other hand, all reasonable compromises are voted 
down, and I am brought to vote upon the naked 
and unqualified admission of Kansas, under the 
Lecompton constitution, I distinctly declare that I 
can not, in conscience, vote for it." 

Mr. English was anti-Lecompton, but not one 
of those who wanted to cripple the Constitution or 
break up the Democratic organization. He, in this 
contest, eloquently appealed to his Southern col- 
leagues. It was, in fact, a long, exciting contest 
over this question, one seldom equaled in bitter- 
ness. It was really the prelude to the civil war. 
Mr. English never departed from the position taken 
in this speech. He was anxious, as a party man, 
to heal all differences that had sprung up among 
his political friends, upon this question, and to re- 
lieve the administration and the South from the 
position they had taken, which position he considered 
dangerous. 

Alluding to the late defeat of his party in the 
North, Mr. English said: 

"It should not be forgotten that when we men 
of the North-west came forth to encounter this 



THE SENA TE BILL. 271 

fearful army of fanatics — this great army of Ab- 
olitionists, Know-nothings, and Republicans com- 
bined — you, gentlemen of the South, were at home 
at your ease, because you had not run counter to 
the sympathies and popular sentiments of your 
people. You went with the current ; we, against it. 
We risked every thing ; you, comparatively nothing. 
And now I appeal to you, whether, for the sake of 
an empty triumph, of no permanent benefit to you 
or your 'peculiar institutions,' you will turn a deaf 
ear to our earnest entreaties for such an adjustment 
of this question as will enable us to respect the 
wishes of our constituents and maintain the union 
and integrity of our party at home? Look to it, 
ye men of the South, that you do not, for a mere 
shadow, strike down or drive from you your only 
effective support outside the limits of your own 
States." 

The great contest filled the country with the 
most intense excitement, and awakened the greatest 
apprehensions of the most thoughtful and patriotic 
citizens. For five months it was the all-absorbinpf 
topic for Congress, engaging the attention of senators 
and representatives, thus hindering and obstructing 
the way for the transaction of any useful or legitimate 
business of public interest. 

The Senate saw proper to pass a bill admitting 
Kansas, under the Lecompton constitution, without 
limit or condition ; but this bill, although it com- 
manded the favor of the President and his cabinet, 
failed to receive the sanction of the House of Rep- 
resentatives. The House, on the other hand, passed 



272 WILLIAM II. ENGLISH. 

a bill as a substitute for that of the Senate ; but 
this the Senate would not accept or the executive 
approve. Thus was an issue formed between 
great co-ordinate branches of the Government, 
whose joint and harmonious action could alone re- 
move the dangerous question, and give peace to the 
country. 

In this stage of the proceedings, when the whole 
country had almost abandoned the hope of a settle- 
ment of the disagreement between the two houses, 
and the angry contest was likely to be adjourned 
for further and protracted agitations, before a people 
already inflamed with the bitterest sectional animos- 
ities, Mr. English took the responsibility of moving 
to concur in the proposition of the Senate, asking 
for a committee of free conference. 

The excitement on the occasion had scarcely 
ever been equalled in the House of Representatives. 
Upon adopting this motion, the vote was a tie (one 
hundred and eight to one hundred and eight) ; but 
the speaker voted in the affirmative, and the motion 
carried. The committee on the part of the House 
was composed of W. H. English, Indiana; A. H. 
Stephens, of Georgia; and W. A. Howard, of Michi- 
gan. On the part of the Senate: J. S. Greene, of 
Missouri; R. M. T. Hunter, of Virginia; and W. 
H. Seward, of New York. 

As the Senate had asked for the conference, 
the managers on behalf of that branch of Congress 
were informed by Mr. English that propositions for 
a compromise must first come from them. If they 
had none to offer, the managers on the part of the 



KANSAS TROUBLE. 273 

House had none, and the conference would imme- 
diately terminate. 

The managers on the part of the Senate had 
made several propositions ; none of which, however, 
were acceptable to the members on behalf of the 
House. The Senate committee then asked the 
members from the House if they had any com- 
promise to offer; to which Mr. English replied that 
he had none prepared, but he had a plan in his 
mind, based upon the principles of a submission of 
the question of admission under the Lecompton 
constitution and an amended ordinance to a fair 
vote of the people of Kansas ; and if the committee 
thought it worth while, he would prepare it, and 
submit it to them at their first meeting. They told 
him to do so. This is the history of the great Kan- 
sas compromise measure, commonly called the "En- 
glish bill," which finally passed both branches of 
Congress, and became the law. 

This law was, in effect, to place it in the power 
of the people of Kansas to come into the Union 
under the Lecompton constitution or not, as they 
might themselves determine at a fair election. It 
was not as direct a submission as Mr. English pre- 
ferred, but was the best he could get under the 
complications then existing, and was a substantial 
vindication of the doctrine of "popular sovereignty," 
advocated in his minority report on the Kansas- 
Nebraska Bill in the thirty-third Congress. 

It is not possible now, after a lapse of so many 
years, to realize the intense agitation and excite- 
ment in the country at that time over the "English 

18 



274 WILLIAM II. ENGLISH. 

Bill." It was denounced in the strongest terms by 
very many, and as highly eulogized by others. Its 
passage was hailed with firing of cannon, illumina- 
tions, and public rejoicings in many places. The 
President of the United States was so highly grat- 
ified as to write Mr. English a letter of concrratula- 
tion, in which he said : 

" I consider the present occasion the most fortu- 
nate of your life. It will be your fate to end the 
dangerous agitation, to confer lasting benefits on 
your country, and to render your character histor- 
ical. I shall always remain your friend." 

On the night after the passage of the bill there 
was a great jollification meeting in Washington City, 
which serenaded the President and Mr. English, 
and of which the Union newspapers said : 

" It was a time of congratulation anions all true- 
hearted Union men. About 9 o'clock the marine 
band passed up towards the executive mansion in 
a large omnibus, drawn by four horses, and was fol- 
lowed by an immense concourse. The cannoniers 
were also out, and thundered forth a salute from 
their field-piece opposite the north front of the exec- 
utive mansion, while the band, taking its position be- 
neath the portico, played " Hail Columbia." Before 
they had completed a dense crowd had congregated, 
and was constantly increased by new arrivals, until 
at least two thousand persons were assembled, in- 
cluding quite a number of ladies. The time, the 
place, the exultant cheers, the loud booming of the 
cannon, the patriotic strains of the band, all com- 
bined to form a picturesque and imposing scene, 



SPEECH ON THE ENGLISH BILL. 275 

which will long be remembered by those who were 
fortunate enough to witness it." 

In the course of the speech made by the Presi- 
dent, he said: "This is a great occasion on which 
you have assembled. It is far above men.^ The 
best interests of the country were involved in the 
long contest which is so happily terminated. I hope 
and believe that the result will tend to promote the 
peace and prosperity of our glorious Union." 

Mr. English, the author of the bill, was, of 
course, one of the heroes of the occasion ; but we 
can only give a few extracts from his speech. In 
the course of his remarks he said : 

"Let us all stand together in this great confed- 
eracy as equals, each State having the right to 
regulate its own domestic institutions in its own 
way; and let us apply this doctrine not only to 
Kansas, but to all the Territories which may come 
into this Union for all time to come. That is the 
doctrine of the Democratic party; and when that 
party is struck down, the best interests of the coun- 
try will be struck down. Stop this agitation and 
let us act, not like visionary fanatics, but practical 
men. Let well enough alone, and leave the solution 
of this matter to time and Providence. If we can 
not stand upon the doctrine of non-intervention, 
where can we stand in safety ?" 

"I am here as one of the representatives of a 
western State. It is a conservative State; it is the 
one which gave the largest majority of any one in 
the North for the President. I know that it is the 
feeling of the people of Indiana that the interests 



276 WILLI A M II. EXG LISH. 

and rights of the South should never be trodden 
under loot. We do not intend to surrender an)- of 
our rights, and we do not believe that the people 
of the South desire to trespass upon our rights ; if 
they did, we should rise up as one man to resist it, 
and we would resist it to the last. While we shall 
be careful to protect our own rights, we shall be 
equally careful not to trespass upon the rights of 
our brethren in other States. Upon such broad, 
national grounds as this w r e can all stand ; and if we 
do, this confederacy will continue increasing in pros- 
perity and glory. We must discard all these sec- 
tional ideas. We must cultivate a greater feeling 
of respect and sympathy for each other and for 
those of different sections ; and I trust and hope 
this is the dawn of a new era. I trust and hope we 
shall hear no more of these sectional agitations. 
Every good man and lover of this country ought to 
set his face against them. I speak the sentiment 
of the entire Democracy of my State when I say 
that we will do battle faithfully to protect the rights 
of the people of every portion of the confederacy, 
and that we shall stand by the Constitution and the 
Union to the last." 

Mr. English never claimed that the "English 
bill " was entirely as he wished it. In a speech, 
made long after its passage, he said : 

" It was not to be expected that a bill upon a 
subject of such magnitude, preceded by such in- 
tense excitement, \ouq- and heated debates, close 
votes, and conflicts between co-ordinate branches of 
the Government, could be enacted into a law in a 



ENGLISH BILL. 277 

manner satisfactory to all, or without violent oppo- 
sition. Nothing in man's nature, or in the history 
of the past, warranted such expectation. Thirty 
millions of excited people are not easily quieted, and 
a question which could agitate a whole nation was 
not likely to be removed without a struggle and 
some sacrifice of opinion. 

" These things will all be considered by those who 
are disposed to judge fairly. Wise and patriotic 
men could well approve of a measure, originating 
under such circumstances, which they would have 
objected to as an original proposition. I am free 
to say, that if the bill had been an original prop- 
osition, depending alone upon my approval to shape 
into law, I should, without sacrificing its substance, 
have changed, in some respect, some of its pro- 
visions. It was no time, however, to cavil about 
non-essential points or unimportant words — no time 
to manifest a captious or dogmatical disposition. A 
little might well be yielded to the judgment of 
others, if necessary to achieve a successful result in 
a matter of such importance. 

"Perfection in every respect was not claimed 
for the conference bill. Its friends set up no un- 
reasonable or extravagant pretensions in its behalf, 
and they now have the proud satisfaction of know- 
ing that it has realized all they ever claimed for it. 
It was enough that it contained the substance, and 
was the very best that could be secured at the time 
and under the circumstances which then existed. 

"In that spirit it was agreed to in committee; 
in that spirit enacted into a law. It sprang from 



278 WILLIAM II. ENGLISH. 

the necessity of the case, and was supported in the 
hope of reconciliation and peace. If those who 
gave it their support erred, it was in yielding too 
much in the praiseworthy effort of removing a dan- 
gerous question from the national councils and re- 
storing harmony to a highly excited people." 

Under this law, the question of admission was 
referred back to the people of Kansas, and, as 
was expected, they decided against coming into the 
Union under the Lecompton constitution. Mr. En- 
glish was not disappointed in his expectations ; and 
even Mr. Greeley admitted that the vote cast on the 
proposition of the English bill was, in effect, to re- 
ject the Lecompton constitution. Mr. English thus 
accomplished what he had contended for from the 
beginning — so there is no inconsistency in his record 
upon the subject. On the final vote which admitted 
Kansas as a State, he was still a member, and 
voted for her admission. 

The popular current in the North was still 
strongly against the Democratic administration, and 
the English bill entered into the ensuing campaign, 
and came in for the usual amount of misrepresenta- 
tion and abuse. The Second Congressional District 
again elected Mr. English to Congress, and during 
the contest in that campaign his district assumed a 
national importance. His political opponents made 
extraordinary efforts to defeat him ; and there was, 
at one time, some disaffection with a portion of his 
political friends, who thought he ought to have voted 
for the admission of Kansas under the Lecompton 
constitution. This disaffection immediately subsided, 



B UCHANAN'S LETTER. 2 79 

resulting in part, probably, from a letter written by 
President Buchanan, in which he spoke in terms of 
commendation of Mr. English. The letter says : 

14 1 omit no opportunity of expressing my opinion 
of how much the country owes you for the English 
amendment. Having lost the bill of the Senate, 
which I preferred, the country would have been in a 
sad condition had it not been relieved by your 
measure. It is painful even to think of what would 
have been the alarming condition of the Union had 
Congress adjourned without passing your- amend- 
ment. I trust you will have no difficulty in being 
renominated and re-elected. If I had a thousand 
votes, you should have them all with a hearty good 
will." 

In fact, although Mr. English had at one time 
firmly opposed a leading measure of the administra- 
tion, the President was well aware it was from con- 
scientious convictions, and always manifested the 
most friendly feeling for him. These kindly rela- 
tions existed to the end of Mr. Buchanan's life. 

After the passage of the English bill, the Presi- 
dent offered to confer the highest political honors 
upon Mr. English, but he declined receiving any 
executive appointment. The same offer of executive 
favors occurred under the administration of Presi- 
dent Johnson, with whom Mr. English had been on 
terms of the most intimate friendship ever since the 
Winter and Spring of 1844-45, at which time they 
boarded at the same house; and Mr. Johnson, then 
a member of Congress from Tennessee, aided in 
procuring an office for Mr. English under President 



280 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

Polk. In the former case Mr. English felt that his 
acceptance might be understood, and he preferred 
remaining an independent representative of the peo- 
ple, and in the latter he preferred remaining in that 
private station he had then chosen so that he could 
look after his own immense business, and the inter- 
ests of a great financial institution, of which he was 
the president. 

Mr. English entered Congress with Thomas A. 
Hendricks, Elihu B. Washburne, and John C. Breck- 
inridge ; and, in addition to these distinguished gen- 
tlemen, had for his colleagues many who have made 
great names in their country's history, such as Wm. 
Appleton and N. P. Banks, of Massachusetts ; Gov- 
ernors Fenton and Morgan, Russell Sage, and 
Francis B. Cutting, of New York ; Asa Packer and 
Galusha A. Grow, of Pennsylvania ; Governors Smith 
and Letcher, Thomas S. Bocock, and Charles J. 
Faulkner, of Virginia ; Governors Aiken and Orr, of 
South Carolina; Colquit and Stephens, of Georgia; 
Houston, of Alabama; Singleton, of Mississippi; 
Disney, Campbell, Edgerton, Corwin, Shannon, and 
Giddings, of Ohio ; Boyd, Bristow, Elliot, Preston, 
and Stanton, of Kentucky; Jones, Zollicoffer, and 
Etheridge, of Tennessee ; Governor Yates and Bis- 
sell, of Illinois; Governor Phelps and Thomas H. 
Benton, of Missouri ; Governor Bell, of Texas ; 
Governor Latham and M'Dougal, of California; Gen- 
eral Joe Lane, of Oregon. At subsequent sessions, 
John Sherman, W. S. Groesbeck, and George H. 
Pendleton, of Ohio; Roscoe Conkling, of New York; 
and Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, became members; 



COLLEA G UES OF ENGLISH. 281 

so that it may be said of Mr. English's colleagues 
that two of them became Vice-presidents of the 
United States, and six are now prominently men- 
tioned for the high office of President. 

Of his colleagues in the United States House of 
Representatives, Messrs. Atkins, Cox, Jno. T. Har- 
ris, Scales, O. R. Singleton, Stephens, and Wright 
still adorn that body ; and Messrs. Conkling, Dawes, 
Lamar, Logan, Morrill, Pendleton, Vance, and Win- 
dom are now distinguished members of the Senate. 

It is a sad commentary upon the short duration 
of human life, and the transitory nature of all earthly 
honors, that of the two senators and eleven mem- 
bers of the House, constituting the Indiana delega- 
tion in the Thirty-third Congress, which ended in 
1854, all are now dead but Thomas A. Hendricks 
and William H. English. 

During Mr. English's service in Congress there 
were two notable contests for the speakership, which 
made great excitement at the time, and are likely to 
live in history. The first was at the beginning of the 
thirty-fourth Congress, when the American or 
Know-nothing party held a small balance of power, 
and which, after a fierce and protracted struggle, re- 
sulted in the election of N. P. Banks by a fusion of 
the members of that party and the newly-formed 
Republican party. The second one took place at 
the beginning of the thirty-sixth Congress, when 
John Sherman, now the distinguished secretary of 
the treasury, was nominated by the Republicans for 
speaker ; but after two months of great excitement, 
and a multitude of ballots, in which various persons 



282 WILLIAM II. ENGLISH. 

were voted for, Governor Pennington, of New Jer- 
sey, was finally elected. 

In the course of this struggle Mr. English made a 
speech, from which we make an extract, as it refers 
pointedly to his previous political history. He said: 

" Those who are acquainted with my personal 
and political history know that I have never belonged 
to, or sympathized with, any other than the Demo- 
cratic party. I have stood with that party against 
all the political organizations that have from time to 
time been arrayed against it. When the old Whig 
party existed, I opposed it upon those issues which 
have become obsolete, and are no longer before the 
country. Upon the great question of slavery, which 
is the vital question of this day, I stand where the 
Democracy stood, and the Whig party stood, as long 
as the Whig party had an existence. 

" Upon the advent of the American or Know- 
nothing party, I opposed it persistently, and particu- 
larly the peculiar doctrines of that party in relation 
to naturalization and religion. My views upon these 
subjects have undergone no change. I am for our 
naturalization laws as they stand, and for the entire 
freedom of religious belief; and would resist, to the 
last, any infringement upon the one or the other." 

The election of 1858 had resulted in returning 
Mr. English to Congress by a larger majority than 
ever before in his career ; in fact, in number of votes 
received each election had been one of constant in- 
crease, the last number of votes received being in 
the majority over those of his opponents ; in 1858 
nearly double that received in 1S52, and this, too, 



PA R TISA N FEELING. 283 

at a time when Democratic Congressmen were being 
swept out of existence. 

The time was coming when a review of the past 
history of our country was more gratifying to the 
patriots of our land than contemplating the prospect 
of its future. The questions of national importance 
were assuming shape in partisan directions, and 
those partisan feelings were in every regard engen- 
dering personal and political animosities. The two 
principal parties so hotly pitted against each other 
were the radical Republicans and the radical Dem- 
ocrats ; and their discussions frequently descended 
to low demagoguery, and generally on the negro 
question. These discussions, with both parties, Mr. 
English not excepted, assumed ludicrous propor- 
tions, both parties being bitter in the extreme at 
times, and giving vent to the most radical notions 
and making assertions that would not be thought 
of in a less heated contest. 

Mr. English was not free from participating in 
these questions, although, while acting under the in- 
fluence of a partisan spirit, never descended quite so 
low as others in his deductions. 

His discussions comprehended broader views of 
his opponents attitude, and he was generally able to 
meet these men in a proper way. We give below 
his opinions of the Republican party, just organized 
at that time. He says : 

" I know, sir, that there is a disposition on the 
part of some persons to underrate the importance of 
the present crisis, and to ridicule the idea, that 
anything disastrous to the country is likely to re- 



284 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

suit from it. Those who do this are generally 
guilty themselves of producing the agitation, in 
which the country is unhappily involved, and seem 
to care for nothing so much as the accomplishment 
of mere partisan ends. 

11 I trust the great mass of the people, who are 
engaged- in the peaceful avocations of private life, 
and whose attention has not been particularly 
directed to public affairs, will not allow themselves 
to be lulled into a false feeling of security. I would 
appeal to my constituents, not to judge of the 
temper of the motion, by what they see around 
them; for Indiana is a conservative State, and free 
from the extreme views, which unfortunately exist 
in other portions of the confederacy. I would have 
them know that it is the opinion of many of their 
oldest and wisest statesmen — those who have been 
known heretofore as possessing the coolest heads 
and soundest hearts — that the si^ns of the times 
forebode greater danger to the country than at any 
previous period of its history. Sectional jealousies, 
difficulties, and perplexities surround it on every 
side ; fanaticism and ultraism are the order of the 
day, whilst treason and rebellion stalk boldly through 
the land — and why is it so ? Is it not because we 
have forgotten the teachings of the fathers of the 
republic, and disregarded the farewell advice of the 
great Washington ? Is it not because we have 
allowed a formidable party to grow up in our midst, 
based upon purely sectional ideas, and constantly 
tending to excite the hostility of the North against 
the South and their institutions? My judgment 



SPLIT IN THE PARTY. 285 

answers in the affirmative, and I believe the peace 
and prosperity of the country demand that this sec- 
tional party should be put down, — yea, the very 
perpetuity of our institutions demands it, for if these 
sectional clashings are allowed to go on unrebuked 
by the people, it requires no gift of prophecy to 
determine what will be the result. We may tempo- 
rize and put off the evil day for a season, but the 
terrible explosion will come sooner or later, if this 
fell spirit of sectional strife continues." 

In the mean time the split of his political party 
began to widen, and the troubles of the great civil 
war began to loom up in the country's horizon, 
visible to the keen and experienced vision of Mr. 
English, as well as to all other statesmen. 



286 WILLIAM II. ENGLISH. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

SITUATION OF AFFAIRS AFTER 1S60. 

THE PLATFORMS AND NOMINATING CONVENTIONS OF 1856-1860 — MR. 
ENGLISH'S VISIT TO CHARLESTON — THE SPLIT IN THE DEMOCRATIC 
PARTY — MR. ENGLISH RETIRES TO PRIVATE LIFE — HIS INTEREST 
MANIFEST FOR THE CAUSE OF THE UNION — HIS SPEECHES — FAVORS 
TILDEN AND HENDRICKS. 

IN 1856, the Democratic convention that nom- 
inated James Buchanan for President convened 
in Cincinnati, the second of June, and adopted, in 
its platform, the principles embodied in the Kansas- 
Nebraska bill, whereby there was to be no inter- 
ference of Congress with slavery, in any of the Ter- 
ritories or in the District of Columbia. They also 
stated, in their platform, that this was the basis of 
the compromise of 1850, confirmed by both Whigs 
and Democrats ; in short, new States should have 
the prerogative of deciding whether they should be 
free or slave. 

Those opposing this platform were at first known 
as anti-Nebraska, but were afterward denominated 
Republicans, and, as such, carried most of the free 
States in the North. In the anti-Nebraska or Re- 
publican convention, held at Pittsburg, on the 2 2d 
of February, 1856, they nominated John C. Fremont, 
of California, for President, and Abraham Lincoln re- 
ceived an informal ballot for the Vice-presidency ; 
but W. L. Dayton, receiving two hundred and fifty- 



F1LM0BE NOMINATED. 287 

nine votes, was declared the nominee. Their plat- 
form, in contradistinction to the other, expressly set 
forth : That all persons (as a self-evident truth) are 
endowed with inalienable rights, such as life, liberty, 
and the pursuit of happiness ; and also, that the Con- 
stitution confers upon Congress the power over 
Territories for their government, and that it is both 
its right and duty to prohibit, in these Territories, 
those twin relics of barbarism, slavery and polygamy. 

At the same time the convention was held in 
Pittsburg, the Nationals (" American") assembled in 
Philadelphia. In their platform, the rights only of 
native-born and naturalized citizens of the United 
States, residing in any Territory thereof, were recog- 
nized and declared eligible ; and that only those who 
are citizens, and who have a fixed residence in said 
Territory, ought to participate in the formation of their 
constitution ; and nominated Millard Filmore for their 
candidate for President, which nomination was after- 
ward ratified by the Whig convention, in Baltimore, 
17th of September. 

The way for all the troubles was now opened up 
for i860, when partisan feelings culminated in intense 
party hatred, and in villainous reproach upon and 
from all sides. These platforms upon the slavery 
agitation received still other modifications as to their 
general bearing, or as to their purpose and inten- 
tentions, in the memorable national conventions of 
i860, when four parties sprang into existence again, 
each with clauses for legislation on slavery. 

The National Democratic Convention, by previ- 
ous agreement, met at Charleston, South Carolina, 



288 WILL I A M IT. ENGLISH. 

on the 23d day of April, i860. Different platforms 
were presented, that of H. B. Payne, of Ohio, a com- 
mitteeman of all the free States but three, reaffirm- 
ing- the Cincinnati platform, but containing the pro- 
viso for territorial legislation on slavery, which is : 

"Resolved, That the Democratic party will abide 
by the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United 
States on the questions of Constitutional law." 

From this the majority report dissented, and on 
this question it was "Resolved, That when the set- 
tlers in a Territory having an adequate population 
form a State constitution, the right of sovereignty 
commences ; and, being consummated by admission 
into the Union, they stand on an equal footing with 
other States ; and the State thus organized ought to 
be admitted into the Union whether its constitution 
prohibits or recognizes the institution of slavery." 

Ben. F. Butler, disagreeing with both these re- 
ports, proposed simply to reaffirm the Cincinnati 
platform, upon which proposition, April 30th, when 
the convention reassembled, a vote was taken, re- 
sulting, yeas, 105; nays, 198. 

Mr. L. P. Walker, of Alabama, presented the 
written protest of the twenty-eight delegates from 
that State, showing that the State convention which 
elected them had instructed that they withdraw in 
case a squatter-sovereignty platform was adopted. 
"This delegation," says Horace Greeley, "included 
ex-Governor John A. Winston, William L. Yancey, 
Reuben Chapman, ex-member Congress, and other 
prominent citizens, who thereupon withdrew from 
the Convention." 



THE CONVENTIONS. 289 

Mississippi next announced its withdrawal upon 
the same grounds as those given by the Alabama 
delegation, and, through the person of Mr. Barry, 
assured the Democrats of the North that in less 
than sixty days they would find a united South 
standing by their side. 

After a number of States (including that of 
Massachusetts) withdrew, Mr. Butler, of Massachu- 
setts, gave a reason for himself so doing — that "he 
would not sit in a convention where the African 
slave trade, which is piracy by the laws of every 
country, is approvingly advocated." 

The convention nominated Stephen A. Douglas 
for President. The Seceders' convention afterward, 
at Maryland Institute, nominated John C. Breckin- 
ridge as their candidate. 

The Republican convention, May 16, in Chicago, 
nominated Abraham Lincoln, whose statements on 
the slavery question will suffice for the position this 
party had taken on this subject. On the stump he 
announced that "A house divided against itself can 
not stand ; that the Union can not permanently en- 
dure half slave and half free." And also his in- 
terpretation of the slavery plank in the Seceders' 
platform, which was, "That when one man chooses 
to enslave another, no third mail shall be allowed 
to object.' 1 '' 

In addition to these parties and their platforms, 
the Constitutional Union party held a convention at 
Baltimore on the 19th of May, and nominated John 
Bell, of Tennessee, and placed him on a platform so 
broad he could not help but stand — the " Constitu- 

19 



290 WILLIAM IT. ENGLISH. 

tion itself" limiting' him to the one broad or narrow 
plank (as he might see fit to view it), the constitu- 
tionality of the Constitution, which probably would 
have strangled him nevertheless, on some questions 
of slavery, to have still harmonized with the opinions 
of all factions of the party. 

These different platforms show the feelings, prior 
to the war, of the Democratic party. Three fac- 
tions in their own ranks was not conducive to the 
highest hopes they should like to have entertained 
respecting their chances, severally, of success in the 
coming election. 

Mr. English was then a member of the National 
Campaign Committee, having for his colleagues 
C. L. Vallandingham of Ohio, William Barksdale of 
Mississippi, Miles Taylor of Louisiana, William Big- 
ler of Pennsylvania, T. S. Bocock of Virginia, John 
A. Logan of Illinois, and John Cochrane of New 
York. The approaching Democratic National Con- 
vention at Charleston, South Carolina, was a great 
event, pregnant with coming conflicting conse- 
quences, both to the party and to the country. Mr. 
English went to Charleston, not as a delegate, but 
on a mission of peace, to prevent if possible the 
division of the Democratic party. Mr. English was 
wisely desirous of having but one Democratic can- 
didate. Believing as he did in the party, and that 
safety was alone to be found in its perpetuation, he 
could not but feel intense anxiety at the turn things 
were taking, and predicted defeat in the event of so 
great division. He is one who, while firm and true 
to principles, yet is magnanimous, and in this case 



VISIT TO CHARLESTON. 291 

thought it better to make liberal concessions than to 

o 

submit to a relinquishment of power. Such a con- 
servative platform would probably have commanded 
success, and if successful how different he thought, 
might have been the history of his country. In 
all this labor of uniting his party his visit proved 
fruitless. 

After returning to Washington he made a speech 
regarding his visit South, to the convention, and in 
that speech said : 

"If I were to speak upon the topics which seem 
to be absorbing the attention of everybody now, it 
would be upon the scenes that have been enacted 
and the events which are transpiring at Charleston. 

"I may be permitted to say, sir, upon this sub- 
ject of the Presidency, that I have but little sym- 
pathy with those who imperiously demand ' Caesar 
or nobody;' no sympathy with that rule-or-ruin spirit 
which has been exhibited too much of late in both 
wings of the Democratic party, and to which may 
justly be attributed whatever difficulties now exist. 

"I shall not attempt, on the present occasion, to 
characterize this rule-or-ruin spirit in that language 
I conceive it so justly merits ; but I venture to pre- 
dict that if disaster or serious trouble ensues, the 
masses of the Democratic party never will forgive, 
as they never ought to forgive, those who will have 
needlessly precipitated this state of affairs upon the 
country. 

" It is not to be denied that, just at this time, 
dark and ominous clouds seem to be ' lowering" over 
our house/ but I have an abiding faith that these 



292 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

clouds will soon break away, and leave the glorious 
sun of Democracy shining brightly as ever. 

"Sir, mere political storms have no terror for 
me, or for the great party to which I belong ; and, 
for the present, I shall go upon the supposition that 
whatever storms may have prevailed at Charleston 
were necessary for the purity and healthfulness of the 
political atmosphere, as natural storms are known to 
be for a like purpose in the physical world." 

Mr. English felt that there was not that spirit in 
the party there should have been. To him the eye- 
sore was the split in its ranks, as he instinctively 
saw no hope for an election, which, if accomplished 
by that party, might probably avert the civil war. 
Following close upon the election came secession in 
the South, favorinof disunion of the States. The 
feelinof was becoming bitter towards one another 
even in the same party. They had divided and 
were dashing, as he supposed, upon a point that 
would work ruin in the end. He was in favor of 
pacification, if it were possible, and favored every 
measure that would tend to the accomplishment of 
that result. 

On the subject of secession he was as firm as 
Ben. Butler was in his withdrawal from the party, 
and was bold in opposing the views of his political 
associates of the South, and as much so as he had 
been in opposing Kansas under the admission of 
the Lecompton constitution. He believed that the 
party that had stood, as had the great Democratic 
party, through so many storms, had a nationality 
of which every one could be proud, and called upon 



FREE-STATE DEMOCRACY. 293 

his Southern brethren not to degenerate into the 
sectional party for the purpose of favoring disunion. 
He denounced the movement from the beginning, 
and warned these men that, if they persisted in 
carrying out their secession movement, that their 
days as a party were numbered. He was not in- 
clined to listen to the South in their expressions of 
breaking up the Union because of the election of a 
sectional president to the chair, and spoke of their 
folly in thus supposing the case, for he did not be- 
lieve a corporal's guard, made up of Northern men, 
would go with them, and thus aid in destroying the 
Union for such a cause. He knew that his constitu- 
ents would not sanction the movement, nor in any 
way lend it sympathy ; their devotion to their coun- 
try was of paramount importance to that. In these 
terms he addressed them whenever opportunity of- 
fered him a chance. In one of his speeches he said: 
"Looking at this matter from the particular 
stand-point you occupy, it is to be feared you have 
not always properly appreciated the position of the 
Free-State Democracy, or the perils which would 
environ them in the event of a resort to the extreme 
measures to which I refer. Would you expect us 
in such an event to go with you out of the Union? 
If so, let me tell you frankly, your expectations will 
never be realized. Collectively, as States, it would 
be impossible, and, as individuals, inadmissible; 
because it w r ould involve innumerable sacrifices, and 
a severance of those sacred ties which bind every 
man to his own immediate country, and which, as 
patriots, we never would surrender." 



291 WILLIAM II. ENGLISH. 

But all that could be done had been accom- 
plished long before his efforts were made, and still 
all was unavailing. There was no heed taken and 
no reason accepted. The conflict must come, for it 
was inevitable, than all that would be attempted 
would but lead to angry controversy, and the ques- 
tion would be settled by the sword, an event Mr. 
English hoped would never come and had labored 
to prevent. 

Having served now four terms in Congress — 
going the last term contrary to his wishes — he 
decided now to retire from the political contest, 
which was done, being endorsed for his faithfulness 
by his constituents, which of itself shows his 
standing among them. They passed the following 
resolution : 

"Resolved, That in selecting a candidate to repre- 
sent this district in the thirty-seventh Congress, we 
deem it a proper occasion to express the respect 
and esteem we entertain for our present member, 
Hon. William H. English, and our confidence in 
him as a public officer. In his retirement, in accord- 
ance with his well-known wishes, from the position 
of representative, which he has so long filled with 
credit to himself and benefit to his country, we give 
the plaudit, ' Well done, thou good and faithful 
servant.' " 

He thus left the public service as he had en- 
tered it, with the £ood wishes of his fellows for his 
welfare. His political career had been in some re- 
spects remarkable, having never encountered a 
defeat, but rather had grown stronger after each 



HIS POSITION. 295 

conflict, standing higher when he left than upon his 
entrance into the struggle. 

The war came in earnest. No appeal now could 
be made but with the sword. The governor, recog- 
nizing the great service he would be able to render 
for his country in the field, offered him a regiment 
and a colonelcy ; but he did not accept, and took 
no part in the struggle, with the exception of lending 
his aid and councils in various other ways, which he 
did cheerfully, and in every way was a supporter of 
the Union cause. 

The Madison Courier- Rep2iblica?i paper thus 
speaks of Mr. English in a speech he made : 

"Mr. English spoke for over an hour. He said 
that he had informed Southern men more than a 
year ago, in a speech in Congress, that he disap- 
proved of secession in toto, and that it could never 
have his countenance and support. It was also well 
known that he was opposed to the Republican doc- 
trines, and should boldly assail Mr. Lincoln's policy 
whenever he thought it wrong ; but as a native of 
Indiana, thoroughly identified with free State inter- 
ests, he felt that his allegiance was exclusively due 
to the State of Indiana and Government of the 
United States, and he should accordingly abide in 
good faith by their laws, and stand under the old 
time-honored flag. He trusted that the bitter cup 
of civil war might be passed from our lips, and he 
would exhaust every possible means of maintaining 
the peace ; but if nothing will do but war, then we 
must all stand or fall together." 

Although Mr. English retired from Congress, 



29G WILLIAM II. ENGLISH 

he did not cease to labor in the behalf of the inter- 
est of his party. He always kept pace with the 
wants and needs of his country, and his party would 
now and then press him into service. In 1861 he 
was a delegate to the State convention, and in 1862 
he was again spoken of for Congress, but he de- 
clined. He wrote to his constituents and advised 
them to keep up their organization, and stand by 
the Constitution and the Union. He said : 

" It is, perhaps, superfluous for me to add that, 
as a private citizen, neither seeking or desiring 
office, I shall exert whatever of influence I possess 
to maintain the Constitution and the Union, and 
speedily to suppress the rebellion. We must not 
allow ourselves to be driven from correct princi- 
ples by any amount of misrepresentation or even 
persecution. 

"I would say, let us firmly stand together under 
the old flag and in the old organization, fighting 
secessionism to the bitter end, assailing the admin- 
istration whenever we conscientiously believe it to 
be in error, but upholding the Constitution and laws, 
and never losing sight of that great historical fact, 
which can not be overcome by misrepresentation or 
abuse, and that is, that under the rule of the De- 
mocracy the country grew to be one of the greatest 
nations of the earth, and as long as they held power, 
the people of all the States were prosperous and 
happy." 

In 1864, Mr. English was a delegate to the Con- 
gressional Convention that nominated Michael C. 
Kerr to Congress. Mr. Kerr was a faithful, sterling 



TILDEN AND HENDRICKS. 297 

patriot, but died while speaker of the House. He 
was a warm friend of Mr. English. Mr. English 
advocated General M'Clellan's name for President, 
and introduced the resolution in the convention 
of the Second Congressional District, which fa- 
vored M'Clellan as first choice ; also a resolution 
declaring : 

"That we are now, as we ever have been, un- 
qualifiedly in favor of the Union of the States, under 
the Constitution, and stand ready, as we have ever 
stood heretofore, to do every thing that loyal and 
true citizens should do to maintain that Union, under 
the Constitution, and to hand it down to our chil- 
dren unimpaired, as we received it from our fathers." 

Mr. English had now been in business a number 
of years, and that business had increased to enor- 
mous proportions, and absorbed all his time. This 
gave him but little time to pay any attention to 
politics. He was a warm supporter of Governor 
Tilden and Governor Seymour, and was president 
of the meeting, held at the capital of the State, that 
ratified the nomination of the last two Democratic 
nominees, Tilden and Hendricks. When acting as 
chairman of the meeting, he said : 

"It is known to you, fellow-citizens, that I have 
not of late years been an active participant in po- 
litical affairs. Preferring the quiet pursuits of pri- 
vate life, and intending not to be drawn into the 
turmoils of active politics, I, nevertheless, am not an 
indifferent spectator in this contest, and certainly do 
not forget the past. I do not forget that I was born 
a Democrat; was long an earnest, hard-working 



298 WILLIAM II. ENGLISH. 

member of the party, always a firm believer in its 
great cardinal principles, and frequently a recipient 
of its favor, at a time when such favors were to me 
of inestimable value. With such antecedents, and 
a heart which, I know, is not incapable of gratitude, 
I could not be indifferent to the fate of this grand 
old party; and although in bad health, and shrink- 
ing from appearing as a participant in a public po- 
litical meeting, I could not forego the pressing call 
that was made upon me to preside upon this occa- 
sion, because I sincerely believe that the time has 
arrived when the welfare of the people demands 
thorough reform in the affairs of the general Gov- 
ernment, and that such reform can now only be cer- 
tainly and effectively secured by the election of 
Tilden and Hendricks. But I do not wish it under- 
stood that I am here to-night in a mere partisan 
capacity, claiming that every thing called Democratic 
must necessarily be good, and every thing called 
Republican necessarily bad ; on the contrary, I con- 
gratulate the Republican party upon having nom- 
inated good men for candidates, at Cincinnati, and 
placing them upon a creditable platform ; but I con- 
gratulate the Democratic party still more upon hav- 
ing nominated better men, upon a better platform." 

Mr. English's views on the monetary question 
can best be explained in a speech made to the Indiana 
Democrats, who were dissatisfied because Mr. Hen- 
dricks had not been nominated as President, and 
also of the financial views of the St. Louis platform. 
Mr. English said : 

" It was natural that in the excitement of the 



FINANCES. 299 

moment, some Indiana Democrats should have felt 
dissatisfied, but most of those have become recon- 
ciled, and not only support the ticket now, but stand 
squarely upon the platform. The few who have not 
yet got on the platform will hurry to get on board 
before the lightning express train of the Democracy 
is fairly under way, because they know that train is 
bound to come in ahead and that it is dano-erous 
to get on the platform when the cars are in motion. 
Never fear but all the boys will get on board in due 
season, for they are not going to be left behind in 
this grand Democratic march to victory. 

" Even the camp-followers, the dodgers and the 
trimmers, who hang on the outskirts of the party, 
distracting its councils and marring its harmony by 
disparaging the platform, for the sake of a little 
local popularity, will be clamoring to get upon it, as 
it becomes more and more evident it is going to be 
adopted by the people. 

"I contend there is nothing in the St. Louis 
platform, upon the subject of the finances, about 
which Democrats should differ. It favors the repeal 
of that clause of the act of Congress which fixes a cer- 
tain day for the resumption of specie payments. It 
repudiates a changeable standard of values, and advo- 
cates that standard which is recognized in our Con- 
stitution as well as by the whole civilized world. It 
proposes to secure to our own people real dollars, 
that shall have as much purchasing power as the 
dollars of other nations. It secures to the farmer, 
the mechanic, and the laborer a dollar that will have 
as great purchasing power as the dollar of the bond- 



300 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

holder. It secures to the manufacturer and the 
man of business that reasonable degree of certainty 
as to the financial future as will enable him to make 
investments and engage in business with some in- 
telligence and feeling of security, which* he never 
can have with a changeable standard of values. In 
short, it but reaffirms the old and time-honored doc- 
trine of the Democratic party in favor of a currency 
of specie and paper convertible into specie on de- 
mand. It is true the platform places the Democratic 
party fairly and squarely upon the road to specie 
payments, but it does not propose to accomplish it 
by such hasty and inconsiderate legislation as will 
be unnecessarily oppressive to creditors and in- 
jurious to business." 



AS A BUSINESS MAN. 301 



CHAPTER XXV. 

MR. ENGLISH AS A BUSINESS MAN. 

ENTERS INTO BANKING — INCREASE IN BANK CAPITAL — GOLD AND 
SILVER THE TRUE STANDARD — OPPOSED TO INFLATION — SUCCESS IN 
BUSINESS — THE RESIGNATION — THE STOCKHOLDERS* PRESENTATION. 

SOON after retiring from Congress Mr. English 
became aware that he was entirely ijnsuited to 
a life of inactivity, and that it was necessary to his 
comfort and happiness that some line of business be 
followed or something entered into that would en- 
gage his time and talents. He had so long been 
out of the practice of his profession (the law) that 
it presented no attractions to him. Finance ap- 
peared as the most inviting field for operations, as 
it had heretofore been before his mind when he had 
found pleasure in its study, and now it perhaps 
might prove a source of profit as well. Accordingly 
Mr. English turned his attention to banking, in 
which business he has ever since continued, and 
now it is said that, of all his vast wealth, no corpor- 
ation, either of a public or of a private nature, con- 
tains a dollar. Therefore no "irregularities" or 
dishonest transactions of a public nature can be 
brought against him. He numbered among his 
friends, at that time, the two great bankers, George 



302 WILLIAM II. ENGLISH. 

W. Riggs, of Washington City, and J. F. D. Lanier, 
of New York. These two valuable and valued 
friends became stockholders with him in the First 
National Bank of Indianapolis, which was opened 
by Mr. English in 1863. The new bank was highly 
prosperous, being among the first established under 
the "National system," and it is said was the first 
to get out a circulation. It further enjoyed the 
privilege of being the only one in Indianapolis for 
several years. The national system was new, and 
as yet untried. The country was in a state of war, 
and private banks, of course, were not favorable to 
that which in time, at least, might prove a rival of 
great magnitude and importance. The other sys- 
tems had good cause to use every means to dis- 
courage the new bank. 

There were a number of flourishing banks in the 
city that enjoyed the confidence of the public. But, 
notwithstanding all this, the business prospered and 
increased. The stockholders were almost wholly 
men of wealth, integrity, and fine business qualifica- 
tions, while a number of them were of high political 
standing. Mr. English, however, was at the head 
of its management, and showed as much strength 
and foresight in the capacity of bank president as 
he had done in political work. The bank, founded 
and started with a capital of one hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars, soon increased to a million, with 
quite a large surplus fund. During this time came 
the great financial panic of 1873, when disaster came 
to so many, but did not affect this one under its 
able management. Mr. English has always been 



PAPER CURRENCY. 303 

what is in common parlance termed a "hard money" 
man, believing gold and silver to be the only true 
standard, and the one which all great commercial 
nations recognize. He, being a friend to the labor- 
ino- man, felt that a wrong was being done him when 
he was paid in paper currency with a depreciated 
value, thus, in a genteel way, cheating him out of a 
few cents on every dollar he might be called upon 
to expend. At the same time officeholders and 
bondholders must be paid in genuine money, amas- 
sing wealth to them and bringing poverty to the 
producing classes. And in the end it must bring 
discredit to the country. He believed with every 
right-thinking man that only honesty, in finance as 
in every thing else, is the best policy. Inflation is 
a pleasant thing so long as we have the one side 
to view, but as nothing built upon the sand has a 
safe foundation, so the first reckoning of accounts 
will sweep away the whole structure for lack of 
solid base. 

While Mr. English did not then believe it best 
to bring about a change in currency by legislation, 
yet he believed it could be eventually brought about 
by the gradual influence of the laws of trade. 

At a meeting of the Board of Trade and business 
men of Indianapolis, in October, of 1873, ^ r - Eng- 
lish is reported as saying: 

"Nothing could be more unfortunate than an 
unredeemable paper currency, swollen to such an 
extent as might suit the caprice of reckless specu- 
lators, or the notions of unprincipled politicians who 
might, for the time being, happen to be in power. 



304 WILLIAM II. ENGLISH. 

The great business interests of the country needed 
to be on a firmer and surer basis than that." 

This may be construed as political capital, the 
Republican element being in power at that time; 
but those who know the man will feel that party 
spirit does not interfere with his own individual con- 
ceptions of truth and right, let such be put forth by 
whomsoever it may. 

One who maintains such plain common-sense 
views of life and of business, with a high principle 
of honor and honesty to back it, can not fail to reach 
the highest success in all places of trust, and in all 
undertakings. So with him in his banking. He re- 
mained as president of the First National Bank of 
Indianapolis during a period of fourteen years, ex- 
tending from the Spring of 1863 to July, 1877, 
leaving it ranking among" the first and best of the 
country. 

Mr. English now decided to retire from active 
business, and endeavor to recuperate his sadly-taxed 
energies ; and, in accordance with such decision, 
tendered his resignation. I n his letter addressed to 
the stockholders and directors, he said : 

"After a life of unceasing labor from earliest 
boyhood, and the great care and responsibility of 
presiding over this large institution since its forma- 
tion, over fourteen years ago, I feel it a duty I owe 
both to myself and an invalid wife, whose condition 
requires my special attention, to take a season of 
rest from all active business, and I must, therefore, 
beg you to accept this resignation as president, to 
take effect from and after this date. 



THE GOLD MEDAL. 30-5 

" In severing this connection and taking my leave 
of you, I can truly say there are but few partings 
in this world I should feel more keenly than this. 
It may well excite tender feeling to retire forever 
from an institution which has been under my special 
care since its foundation, and to sever the confiden- 
tial business relations which have so pleasantly ex- 
isted with its stockholders and officers for over the 
third of a generation, 

"I can conscientiously say before God, that in 
all these years I have earnestly endeavored to faith- 
fully and efficiently discharge my duties as your 
president. 

" With what result, the record can best testify." 

Upon the resignation of Mr. English as presi- 
dent of the bank, the stockholders and directors 
adopted resolutions of regret at the circumstances 
which made such a step necessary, with an expres- 
sion of thanks for the great ability shown and the 
fidelity exercised in the discharge of every duty de- 
volving upon him; and, further, that the executive 
committee be directed to prepare and present to him 
a testimonial of the regard and esteem in which he 
is held. Accordingly, a beautiful gold medal, with 
suitable inscription, and with symbolical ornaments, 
bearing on the one side "Fortitude, Strength, Fidel- 
ity," and on the reverse the inscription, " Presented 
to Hon. Wm. H. English, founder, and for over four- 
teen years president, of the First National Bank of 
Indianapolis, as a memento of the personal esteem 
of the stockholders and directors, and their high 

appreciation of his very great financial ability, 

20 



306 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

constant watchfulness, and perfect fidelity, July 
23- 1S77." 

This is a high testimony to the business capacity 
and trustworthiness of the man. He, with the bank, 
had passed safely through the great panic of 1873. 
His cool judgment, which had steered him through 
so much political strife and bitterness, now served 
him in this dark financial crisis ; while the civil war, 
raging at the opening of the bank, had, in the mean- 
time, closed, and peace was again within the land. 

We have before spoken of Mr. English's home 
in Indianapolis, which he still enjoys. Although it 
is three years since he retired from the more active 
pursuits of life, yet he has always earnestly con- 
cerned himself in all that pertains to the common 
good and the wealth of Indianapolis, the same as 
of his country. The city of his adoption has cause 
to be proud of one who has spared no pains to 
identify himself with her interests and add to her 
public enterprises. In the event of his election, he 
carries with him the best wishes of his fellow-citizens. 



THE LAST DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT. 307 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

A DIVIDED DEMOCRACY. 

CINCINNATI CONVENTION OF 1 8 56— FOUNDERS OF THE DEMOCRATIC 
PARTY — PROVISIONS — DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES — DANGERS OF ARBI- 
TRARY RULE GUARDED — STRENGTH OF THE PARTY — DEMOCRACY 
FALLEN — CAUSES LEADING TO THE TROUBLE— THOS. JEFFERSON A 
TRUE DEMOCRAT — LATER TIMES — PLATFORMS AND PRINCIPLES OF 
DEMOCRACY COMPARED. 

THE last Democratic convention that nominated 
a candidate who was elected President of the 
United States, met in Cincinnati on the 2d of 
June, 1856, John E. Ward, of Georgia, acting as 
chairman. 

The prominent names before the convention at 
that time, and presented as candidates for the chief 
office in our country, were James Buchanan, Frank- 
lin Pierce, Stephen A. Douglas, Lewis Cass. On 
the first ballot Buchanan received 135; Pierce, 122; 
Douglas, 33 > Cass, 5. On the sixteenth ballot Bu- 
chanan received 168; Douglas, 121. On the seven- 
teenth ballot Buchanan received the whole number 
of votes, and was declared nominated. 

This was twenty-four years ago, and was the last 
of the list of that great party who was elected Pres- 
ident of the United States. 

The question arises, why is this ? This was the 
great party that received its impetus and inspiration 



308 A DIVIDED DEMOCRACY. 

from our forefathers ; a party that was founded upon 
principles as everlasting as the hilis — upon princi- 
ples so pregnant with truth, so evident to the casual 
observer, that they were sufficient in the early days 
of our young republic to bear our Government 
through those trying ordeals which would have 
foundered her had she not been stayed upon a rock. 

The founders of our Government were, virtually, 
the founders of this party. They were the men who 
had battled against tyranny for liberty; had risked 
all for personal freedom ; and, after making many 
sacrifices in war, were grounded upon the principle 
that actuated them in the formation of our Consti- 
tution, which conceded to every man the inalien- 
able rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
happiness. 

All my readers will also agree with me that 
these same forefathers saw the necessity of laying a 
bulwark against those who were Napoleonic in their 
designs, to counteract just such ambitions, to stay 
the tide of regality, to circumscribe the spirit of 
ambitious rulers, and confine them within bounds 
not detrimental to the elective franchise principles 
of our countrymen. They looked down through 
the years to come to this day, and far beyond, 
and saw the tide of coming civilization, and with 
it the increase of power — the greater opportuni- 
ties of men in office to arrogate rights of misrule, 
unless hemmed in and hedged about upon all sides. 
With the coming greatness of the republic, also, 
would come the Caesars, the Cromwells, and the 
Napoleons. All these things and much more, in 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 309 

their long deliberations, and wise, broad views taken 
of the needs of our country, they duly considered, 
and were governed accordingly. Theirs was not a 
selfish view, but one that to enforce would require 
more sacrifices, as great and as heavy to be borne ; 
and these sacrifices, for our country's liberty and 
continued prosperity, were cheerfully and deliber- 
ately made. 

When Washington was inaugurated President 
of the United States, he expressed his distrust of 
his own qualifications for the important office to 
which the partiality of his country had called him, 
and implored the Almighty Being, who rules the 
destinies of nations, that he would consecrate to the 
liberties and happiness of the people of the United 
States a government "■instituted by themselves ." 
These were not idle words uttered by Washington 
because that government had seen fit, as a republic, 
to clothe him in power, but words devoutly uttered, 
as was proven by his laying down that power at the 
proper time and refusing to take it up again. 

In that early day our great founder, Thomas 
Jefferson, likewise saw the early croppings of im- 
perialistic ambitions somewhat favoring a strong 
federalistic rule, and labored for the liberties of the 
people. Thomas Jefferson was the founder of those 
principles which have ever been regarded as sound 
by the Democratic party. As such, he was opposed 
to a strong central government, that would embar- 
rass the rights of the people in their own State 
domestic regulations. They were to be equal in 
powers, and should control the federal bond that 



310 A DIVIDED DEMOCRACY. 

regulated their rights as a nation. As we under- 
stand it, a government by which no centralized 
power, outside the wishes of the people, could con- 
trol the country. 

He was likewise opposed to a large standing 
army, which could be used as an instrument of op- 
pression in the hands of kings to subvert the rights 
of the subjects ; and, also, to a system of direct tax- 
ation by internal duties. 

These are the fundamental doctrines of that 
party on those questions, and they have been 
handed down from time to time to the present day, 
and are the same now as then. 

Under this government men have received pro- 
tection and enjoyed their constitutional rights, of 
liberty, when such Presidents as Jefferson were in 
the executive office. Our republic was born a cen- 
tury ago, and it is the wish of every right thinking 
mind that it will survive all time to come ; but is it 
not plain that the conservative power preserved it 
in those days, when Washington could have been 
made king had his ambitions been in keeping with 
many at that time, who favored British notions and 
feared the possibilities of self-government ? 

This party has lived through these long years, 
and again and again fought tyranny and despotism, 
and yet for the past twenty years has almost lost 
her grasp when contesting for the highest office in 
the Qfift of the nation. 

We have a reason for this, and also one for be- 
lieving that her power will be restored unto her. 
Her principles to-day are the same as then ; she has 



THE DEMOCRATIC MISSTEP. oil 

as many adherents, as many devoted followers, and 
now, as in those days, as much strength in the party, 
and as much devotedness of purpose, with success 
sure to come, if all stand as then, one and undivided. 

She is stronger to-day than she was four years 
ago when she elected Mr. Tilden President, giving 
him a larger popular vote than was given to the 
republican candidate ; and there are reasons for be- 
lieving that this number will still be increased at the 
next November election. 

Let us look closely for a moment at the cause of 
this deplorable condition into which the Democracy 
had fallen — the cause of this divided Democracy — 
and we will also glance at the question after the 
powers of resuscitation had been applied, which gave 
us a restored Democracy. 

The Democratic party, in i860, surrendered her 
power to Republican rule, and up to^that time, outside 
of one misstep taken, was without a stain upon her 
honor. Her leaders may have gone astray, she may 
herself have stepped aside a jot, but it was only for 
a moment. She had kept the faith entrusted to her, 
and her sons had gloried in more than one triumph- 
ant struggle in which she came off victorious. 

But she had been found guilty of one misde- 
meanor, which, if it was justified by the Constitu- 
tion of the United States and the laws of man, it 
was not so by God, and reconciled to his principles 
of justice, and needed to be purged and cleansed of 
the guilty, abominable thing, that her use and power 
when restored would, as in former times, be an in- 
strument of accomplishing much good in preserving 



312 A DIVIDED DEMOCRACY. 

the liberties and blessings of our republican form of 
government to the people as Washington, the father 
of our country, had implored of him in his inaugural 
address upon taking the presidential chair the first 
time. 

High Heaven had borne with this iniquity — slav- 
ery — more than two hundred and fifty years ; had 
spared this great party as he had the lives of many 
of her able statesmen, to a good old age, that it 
might repent of this thing, and act likewise ; but 
pride puffeth up, bringing naught less than ruin to 
this autocratic creation. 

The sublime lesson of life is frequently given, 
commencing in, and practically worrying through a 
long term of suffering. The greatest achievements, 
the grandest results of life are often preceded by 
the most glorious G f human endurances. To come 
off victorious in a defeat is triumphant looking to- 
ward success to come. And this is the history of 
the Democratic party. 

Without further comment, we will look at the 
causes of a divided influence among the Democratic 
statesmen of our country. It is true, there are some 
men who are not creatures of circumstances, in a cer- 
tain sense of the word, but not so do we believe with 
the masses. Men and women generally are but a 
degree or so above the Darwinian brotherhood in 
aping the notions and sentiments and feelings of 
their superiors. This was true in the former times 
of our country's history as now, hence we find men 
of the East not the same as men of the West. The 
North and South thus sharply contrast, — education 



EARNESTNESS OF THE SO UTH. 313 

measures, limits, or gives direction to our actions, 
furnishes most people with notions of religion, poli- 
tics — and largely controls the consciences of men. 
Hence we find, after the emancipation proclama- 
tion was issued by Mr. Lincoln, ninety-eight minis- 
ters of the Christian religion in the Southern Con- 
federacy signing a paper, signifying the immorality 
and injustice of such an official act. We have this 
people, from one end of the confederacy to the other, 
throughout its length and breadth, imploring a divine 
interference to stay the hand of the " Lincoln hire- 
lings." These people prayed so earnestly that Mr. 
Lincoln even was fearful their cry would go up to 
heaven more earnestly and effectually than that of 
his own countrymen. May we not be considered 
too critical in making the remark, that this great 
wrong they had in their midst had grown so uncon- 
sciously upon them that they had become hardened 
in the thought that it was all just and right? And 
when their strong men, little by little, made aggres- 
sions, one following the other, each supported and 
sustained by tradition, we wonder not at the infidel- 
ity and division of sentiment in their ranks. 

We go back to 1820, and we find the first fruits 
of this contest, the first beginning of this separation 
which is to come in i860. Yea, further than the 
year 1820, even to one of the founders of the great 
democratic party, Thomas Jefferson, when penning 
the Declaration of Independence, charged the British 
Government with upholding and promoting the Afri- 
can slave trade against the protests of the colonists. 
George III was a patron and upholder of the Afri- 



314 .1 DIVIDED DEMOCRACY. 

can slave trade, and Jefferson inserted this clause : 
" Determined to keep open a market, where men s /ion id 
be bought and sold, lie has prostituted his negation 
for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit 
or restrain this execrable commerce. And that this 
assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distin- 
guished dye, he is now exciti?ig those very people to 
rise in arms among us, arid purchase that liberty of 
which he has deprived them by murdering the people 
011 whom he also obtruded them ; thus paying off 
former crimes committed against the liberties of one 
people with crimes which lie tirges them to commit 
against the lives of another" 

In the Declaration of Independence Mr. Jeffer- 
son's protest was left out, as will be found from the 
following, as taken from his works (Jefferson's works, 
Vol. I, p. 170) : 

"The clause, too, reprobating the enslaving the 
inhabitants of Africa was struck out in complaisance 
to South Carolina and Georgia, who had never at- 
tempted to restrain the importation of slaves, and 
who, on the contrary, still wished to continue it. 
Our Northern brethren, also, I believe, felt a little 
tender under those censures, for though their people 
had very few themselves, yet they had been pretty 
considerable carriers of them to others." 

On the 1st day of March, 1784, Mr. Jefferson, 
when drafting an ordinance for the territory ceded 
already, or to be ceded, by individual States to the 
United States, now comprising what is known as the 
States of Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi, but 
which was then, and remained for some time there- 



NO SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES. 315 

after, unceded to the Union by North Carolina and 
Georgia. These Territories, after becoming States 
and before in their territorial rule, were to have 
governments established upon certain fundamental 
conditions. That one pertaining to slavery reads : 

"That after the year 1800 of the Christian era 
there shall be 7ieither slavery nor invohmtary servi- 
tude in any of the said States, otherwise than in the 
punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have 
been duly convicted to have been personally guilty. ' ' 

But this, the fifth proposition of this ordinance, 
was stricken out on the 19th of April, of that year, 
Mr. Spraight, of North Carolina, making the motion 
to that effect, and Mr. Read, of South Carolina, 
seconding it. 

The question of territorial government was again 
brought up in 1787, during the sitting of the last 
Continental Congress. On the question regarding 
slavery, the committee reported an ordinance for the 
government of the Territories of the United States 
north-west of the Ohio, which passed, and which 
reads : 

" There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary 
servitude in the said Territories otherwise than 
in the crimes whereof the parties shall be duly 
convicted." 

Enough has been said to show how our fore- 
fathers stood on this great question, and the true 
convictions of Jefferson on this question. 

In 1820, as we remarked before, the signs of the 
coming war were shown in the Missouri compromise, 
wherein the South, no longer Jeffersonian in princi- 



ol6 A D/YIDED DEMOCRACY. 

pie as regards this vital point, wish to engross the 
system upon a new Territory. This question, as we 
know, was settled by admitting slavery in this State, 
but it was not to be admitted in any other Territory 
north of 36 30'. In 1850 California was admitted 
into the Union as a free State, although one-half of 
her district lies south of 36 2,0', which, by the com- 
promise act of 1820, deprives slave-holders of all 
future rights to enter this section south of 36 30'. 
The South was angered because California would 
seek admission as a free State, yet boasted in the 
liberty of a people who could regulate their own 
State government as best suited their wishes. This, 
indeed, was undemocratic in the extreme. 

At the same time we see this people enacting a 
fugitive slave law, that shows by its tenor the slave- 
holder had stepped down one degree more in its 
demoralizing tendencies. The era of "slave-hunt- 
ing " has a history of itself. The long continuance 
of one set of men in power over their fellow-men 
shows to what degrading depths the mind will sink. 
In proof of the foregoing, we but simply refer to the 
" Dred Scott" decisions, which so readily subjected 
this persecuted people to their masters. The In- 
dian massacres were horrible to contemplate, yet, 
nevertheless, as barbarous as the usage is, it proba- 
bly would be as desirable a mode to many persons 
of terminating an existence as the slow, lingering 
process of wearing it out under servitude. 

When the Kansas-Nebraska bill was settled the 
Southern Democracy was still more dissatisfied. 
They who talked so loudly of these great democratic 



CALHOUN-YANCEY DOCTRINE. 317 

principles, which lie at the foundation of our Govern- 
ment, began to grow wild and become crazed over cer- 
tain privileges claimed as rights of their fellow-man. 
They simply stood beside themselves, and had so 
far degenerated in the scale of the doctrine of human 
rights as to not allow any greater privileges to the 
negro, as regards right of property, than was al- 
lowed to their live stock running at grass or con- 
fined in stalls in their cattle sheds. 

These are the ultra views of that radical element 
that precipitated our war upon us in 1861. This 
was the fanatical wing of that great party, who with 
Judge Taney at their head, could not make out the 
black people citizens of the United States because 
that would be inconvenient to the slave-holder, who 
never thought of "all other perso7is" except as it 
increased their representative lists ; otherwise only 
spoken of as property and not having any rights the 
white man was bound to respect. 

Calhoun-Yancey doctrine will give some idea of 
radicalism on this subject, submitted by Calhoun to 
the United States Senate, February, 1847, m the 
following language : 

"Resolved, That the Territories of the United 
States belong to the several States composing this 
Union, and are held by them as their joint and com- 
mon property. 

"Resolved, That Congress, as the joint agent and 
representative of the States of the Union, has no 
right to make any law, or to do any act whatever, 
that shall directly, or by its effects, make any dis- 
crimination between the States of this Union by 



318 A DIVIDED DEMOCRACY. 

which any one of them shall be deprived of its full 
and equal rights in the territory of the United States 
acquired or to be acquired. 

" Resolved, That the enactment of any law that 
would directly, or would by its effects, deprive the 
citizens of any of the States of this Union from em- 
igrating, with their property, into any of the Terri- 
tories of the United States, would make such a 
discrimination, and would, therefore, be a violation 
of the Constitution and the rights of the States 
from which such citizens emigrated, and in deroga- 
tion of that perfect equality which belongs to them 
as members of this Union, and tending to subvert 
the Union itself." 

It is not our purpose to discuss the doctrine of 
the legality of slavery, but to trace different leaders 
of this radical school, such as Wm. L. Yancey, Cal- 
houn, and Taney, to that point where the fearful 
leap had been made into that terrible unconstitutional 
abyss of negro citizenship, and of territorial rights, 
that was the cause, finally, of scattering the elements 
of the great party to the four winds of heaven. 

Here was Judge Taney, in the Dred Scott case, 
deciding in favor of boundless diffusion of slavery 
in the Territories, regarding no more the rights of 
liberty to this unhappy race than that of the swine 
wallowing in mire before his door. Hear him : 

"If they were received and entitled to the priv- 
ileges (of citizenship) and immunities of citizens, it 
would exempt them from the operation of the special 
laws, and from the police regulations which they 
considered to be necessary for their own safety. It 



CHIEF-JUSTICE TANEY. 319 

would give to persons of the negro race — who were 
recognized as citizens — in any one State of the 
Union, the right to enter every other State when- 
ever they pleased, singly or in companies, without 
pass or passport, and without obstruction, to sojourn 
there as long as they pleased, go where they pleased, 
at every hour of the day or night, without molestation, 
unless they committed some violation of law for which 
a white man would be punished ; and it would give 
them the full liberty of speech, public and private, upon 
all subjects upon which its own citizens might speak; 
to hold political meetings upon political affairs, and to 
keep and to carry arms wherever they went ; and 
all of this would be done in the face of the subject 
race of the same color, both free and slaves, and 
inevitably produce discontent and insubordination 
among them, and would endanger the peace and 
safety of the State." 

Here is a chief justice saying, in as many words, 
that the " negro had no rights the white man was 
bound to respect. 

So much for Judge Taney, whose opinions were 
concurred in by Justice Wayne of Georgia, and 
many other high officials of the Government ; while 
the John Calhoun version of slaves, and of the 
slaveholder's right to remove with his property to 
any Territory, and have the same respected as a 
right, was also concurred in by a large number of 
prominent men of the South. 

It was not in unison with Thomas Jefferson's 
ideas of slavery, nor with those of the last Conti- 
nental Congress, in New York, in 1787, that had 



320 A DIVIDED DEMOCRACY. 

made provision for its restriction ; but the Taney- 
Calhoun school now came in, under a new dispensa- 
tion of law and justice, to first deprive the unhappy 
black race of all rights of citizenship, and then to 
treat the negro slave as property — the same as 
chattels or real estate. 

Thomas Benton, although a slave-holder and a 
good constitutional Democrat, disagrees, thus far, 
with the Yancey-Calhoun doctrine: 

" The prohibition of slavery in a Territory is 
assumed to work an inequality in the States — allow- 
ing one party to carry its property, the other not. 
This is a mistake — a oreat error of fact, the source 
of great errors of deduction. The citizens of all 
the States, free and slave, are precisely equal in 
their capacity to carry their property with them into 
Territories ; each may carry whatever is property 
by the laws of nature, neither can carry that which 
is only property by statute law ; and the reason is, 
he can not carry with him the lazv which makes it 
property. Either may carry the thing which is the 
subject of this local property, but neither can carry 
the law which makes it so. The Virginian may 
carry his man slave, but he can not carry the Vir- 
ginian law which makes him a slave. The citizen 
of Massachusetts may carry a pile of money which, 
under a State law, may become a bank, but he can 
not carry the law or the charter which makes it a 
bank. . . . For, if a citizen of one State may 
carry his slave State law with him into a Territory, 
the citizens of every other slave State might do the 
same, and then what Babylonish confusion ! Fifteen 



DANIEL WEBSTER. 321 

different codes, as the slave States now number, 
and more to come — for every slave State has a servile 
code of its own, differing from others in some re- 
spects, and from others radically. Thus, in some 
States, as in Virginia and others, slaves are only 
chattels; in others, as in Kentucky and Louisiana, 
they are real estate." 

Mr. Webster says : 

" The Southern senators say we deprive them 
of the right to go into these newly-acquired Territo- 
ries with their property. We certainly do not pre- 
vent them from going into those Territories with what 
is in general law called property. But these States 
have, by their local laws, created a property in per- 
sons ; and they can not carry these local laws with 
them. Slavery is created and exists by a local law 
which is limited to a great section ; and it is as % ked 
that Congress should establish a local law in other 
Territories to enable Southern senators to carry their 
particular law with them. No man can be held as 
a slave unless the local law accompany him." 

We will speak but once more of this revolution 
of Democracy. Mr. Stephens, the Vice-president of 
the Southern Confederacy, says: "Jefferson, in his 
forecast, had anticipated this as the rock upon which 
the old union would split. He was right. What was 
conjecture with him is now a realized fact. But 
whether he comprehended the great truth upon 
which the rock stood and stands may be doubted. 
The prevailing idea entertained by him and most of 
the leadings statesmen at the time of the formation 
of the old Constitution was that the enslavement of 



322 A DIVIDED DEMOCRACY. 

the African was in violation of the laws of nature. 
That it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, a?id 
politically." 

Hear Mr. Stephens again on his new doctrine of 
Democracy : 

" Onr new government is fo?cuded upon exactly 
the opposite ideas ; its foundations are laid, its corner- 
stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not 
equal to the white man ; that slavery, subordination 
to the superior race is his natural and normal con- 
dition. This, our new government, is the first in the 
history of the ivorld based tipon this great physical, 
philsophjcal, and moral truth." 

We think most persons will agree with ns that 
this fanaticism in the Democratic party was what 
ruptured that party in the Charleston Convention ; 
and furthermore, that the great constitutional howl 
made by that section of the party was neither 
founded upon constitutional rights nor upon the 
teachings of the Jeffersonian school ; but the errors 
of the past generation had so morbidly clung to 
them since its root and growth in the Missouri 
compromise measures, that it most assuredly did 
produce an aberration of the mind. That these 
conflicting elements could not always meet under 
one banner and not clash was proven at Charleston 
in the year i860. 

Here was Douglas, representing one wing of 
this great party, subjecting his fundamental doc- 
trines of popular sovereignty, on questions of terri- 
torial legislation, to the decisions of the Su- 
preme Court in the Democratic platform, upon 



JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. 323 

which he stood and afterwards, in Baltimore, was 
nominated. 

The Seceders' convention, which had failed to 
agree in Charleston with the regular party, finally 
settled upon John C. Breckinridge, in perfect unison 
with the doctrine which allows slave-holders to take 
their property with them into the Territories, and 
there receive protection from the Government until 
the State constitution was formed, and the sover- 
eignty of the people commences. 

The Constitutional Union party nominated John 
Bell, of Tennessee, making the effectual split in the 
party which could not be amended. 

The Northern Democrats had really made sac- 
rifices in battling for the right, that, in the hope 
of concession and compromise, they might prevent 
all trouble and save the Union. The Northern De- 
mocracy was willing to stand by the old landmarks, 
and to reaffirm the old faith as expressed in the plat- 
form of 1856. As a party North, they deeply regret- 
ted that the South would demand all claims and lib- 
erties on platform regulations ; but they were willing 
that if it was to be with them " rule or ruin " they 
should go. The Northern Democrats felt that they 
were no lono;er children, to be moved to do this or 
that at their simple bidding. Patience, with them, 
had ceased to be a virtue ; and, although in the 
minority, they would still stand by the old Constitu- 
tion, so sacred to them, handed down by their fore- 
fathers, whom they still revered for their candor and 
judgment on the question of "slavery." 

The Southern Democracy, on the other hand, 



324 A DIVIDED DEMOCRACY. 

gave out their ominous threats against their squat- 
ter sovereignty platform doctrines of the North, ac- 
cusing said party of breaking the last bond that 
held them together, and of breaking up the Union. 

"You have cut off your supply of slaves; you 
have crippled the institution of slavery in the States 
by your unjust laws. We can never make another 
slave State with our present supply, and we have 
rights for the perpetuation of this institution — that 
of the African slave trade — which, if you grant it 
not to us as our just rights, you rob us of all our 
rights. Let us have more negroes and the right to 
open up the Territories, and you will save our party 
and our Union ; but unless you make such conces- 
sions, we will separate ; you can go your way, we 
our way. But we stand a united South for any and 
every encroachment made by you upon us." 

The following four years was one of the clash of 
arms. Go where you would, look where you might, 
you found the ranks of our army in the North filled 
with northern Democrats ; the best men of that party 
were found on the field of battle, lending their 
strength to the contest, and fighting on till the ene- 
mies of the Union had laid down their arms and 
returned in allegiance to their country. Among that 
number were to be found such men as Hancock, 
Butler, and Ewing, and in the halls of Congress 
such as Payne, Crittenden, Douglas, Bayard, and a 
host of others. 

Who is there to-day not proud of that party, or 
who would fail to recognize its vast services in put- 
ting down the rebellion and restoring the Union, — a 



SELF-EVIDENT TRUTHS. 325 

party of no ephemeral existence, easily withstanding 
a twenty years' check in loss of power, and yet grow 
stronger and stronger during the time, because of 
the truths of the self-evident and self-existing prin- 
ciples that always in time triumphantly reassert 
themselves, and bring victory from off the field of 
its foe. 



326 A RESTORED DEMOCRACY. 



CHAPTER XXVIL 

A RESTORED DEMOCRACY. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND HIS GOVERNMENT — OBJECT OF THE WAR — 
VIRGINIA AND TENNESSEE — RECONSTRUCTION UNDER LINCOLN — 
ANDREW JOHNSON AND CONGRESS — THE USURPATION BY CONGRESS 
OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS — THE VETO — THE SOUTH AFTER THE 
WAR — REGISTRATION FRAUDS— RADICAL AND DEMOCRATIC GOV- 
ERNMENT COMPARED — GENERAL EWING'S SPEECH. 

THE Republican party had been struggling for 
years with but little success before it elected 
its great leader, the lamented Lincoln, in 1S60, giv- 
ing him a majority vote, which was 1,858,200. The 
other candidates, Douglas, Breckinridge, and Bell, 
received in toto, 2,824,874 votes — not quite one 
million more than was given Mr. Lincoln. 

The writer aims to make no issue with the ob- 
ject and aims of Lincoln in his purposes to secure 
a happy solution of the troubles beginning in 1861. 
As an honorable Christian gentleman, as a states- 
man, as a true friend to our country, both South 
and North, no more impartial President was ever 
elected to the office of President of these United 
States. His measures were always tempered with 
justice, and his object purely a patriotic resolve to 
save our country — the country, if possible, without 
interfering with slavery ; if not possible thus to se- 
cure its salvation, he would prefer to destroy the 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 327 

institution of slavery before he would, in conse- 
quence of permitting its existence, destroy the 
Government. 

The country without our form of the Constitution 
was better to us than our Constitution was without 
our country. 

His measures to put down insurrection being 
accomplished, and successfully so, the Republican 
party had then a different work to perform, and 
that, too, under (not immediately) a different leader- 
ship than that of Lincoln, and that is where our issue 
is made with the Republican party. 

The object of Mr. Lincoln was to bring the 
States into subjection under the national rule, which, 
when accomplished, they should (be compelled if 
necessary) proceed with their State governments, in 
every particular, just the same as before the war; 
to elect their own officers of State and general gov- 
ernment, the representatives to both houses of Con- 
gress, the same as their own governors, legislators, 
judges of the various courts, etc., etc. This was, 
in fact, the grand object aimed at by this great man ; 
otherwise it would not be a government of the peo- 
ple, nor would the object of the war have been 
accomplished. 

The South greatly misjudged this man in the 
grand, great purpose of his administration. It was 
not to be revolutionary or aggressive, as has char- 
acterized it after his death, but a peaceable, quiet, 
solution of the reconstructionary policy as was pur- 
sued. Mr. Lincoln had declared that the sole object 
of the war was to restore the Union, and his only 



328 A RESTORED DEMOCRACY. 

anxiety was that it might not be made expedient to 
make amendments to the Constitution to compel the 
South to send senators and representatives to Con- 
gress. He greatly desired to restore these States in- 
tact under the Constitution as they were before the 
war; and all the announcements made to foreign na- 
tions through the Secretary of State, Mr. Seward's 
dispatches, disclaimed the intention of interference 
with the existing State institutions, carefully divesting 
it of a single revolutionary design, and industriously 
assured these nations that he would not interfere 
with the structure of their own civil rule. 

As the war of the rebellion advanced, these civil 
governments reverted to their former condition. 
Even when Alexandria was captured and the enemy's 
flag in sight of the Washington capitol, Congress 
received the senators and representatives from the 
State of Virginia, elected by the people within the 
federal lines ; and as our armed forces advanced still 
further, the rights of the subjugated were, as before, 
recognized ; the newly formed powers appointing 
and electing their own revenue officers, district 
attorneys, marshals, etc. 

The first essay of a reconstructionary character 
was made for the State of Tennessee. In this move- 
ment Congress did not interfere. The State was 
only to be disturbed to the extent of abolishing 
slavery, should repeal the ordinance of secession, 
and should repudiate the rebel debt. No designs 
on the local affairs of the State were entertained, 
nor were any assumptions made fixing the qualifica- 
tions of the voters, or the forms of the constitution. 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 329 

Lincoln only cared to restore the machinery of the 
Government under the Constitution with all its 
rights, that being the logical conclusion of the con- 
test. And what more, under the name of all that is 
equitable and just, could be asked ? What more 
could be gained ? And would not any step taken 
beyond this be aggressive in its character, and sub- 
versive to the best interests of our country? 

When Andrew Johnson was inaugurated Presi- 
dent, just after the assassination of Mr. Lincoln, the 
signs of the times indicated a more radical rule than 
any time previous. The sad event had awakened 
the hot temper of the people North, and in the ex- 
citement of the moment they were willing to accuse 
the South in general, and some persons in partic- 
ular, of the awful crime of that murder. And accom- 
panying all this ill-feeling was the gratification of 
having a successor for the vacant chair, a man who 
had been known for his radicalism and his strong 
adherence to the principles of the Republican party 
a man whose breathings against the rebels had been 
venomous in the extreme, and one who would not, 
like the lamented, kind-hearted, and compassionate 
Lincoln, suffer the South to go unpunished for its 
mfamy and treason. 

Probably no honest man, wishing to carry out 
principles of honor, justice, and constitutional rights 
to a people now prostrate before him, could have 
met the emergency in the proper spirit of a con- 
querer meeting his fallen foe, as in this case, with- 
out receiving an almost entire condemnation of his 
actions. Johnson had to meet just such an emer- 



330 A RESTORED DEMOCRACY. 

gency. However virulent he may have been before, 
there was after the war no longer any necessity for 
such feelings. He now stood as the representative 
of the entire nation, and was under a bounden duty 
to favor no section of the country more than an- 
other. The South, in a pool of blood, lay before 
him; her country had been devastated, and utterly 
wasted and ruined. This shrunken body politic, 
a community of death, out of which the bone and 
flesh had been carved, sustained a loss of slave 
property alone amounting to over tJirce and a half 
thousand million dollars; of more than three-fourths 
of all personal property, amounting probably to two 
thousand millions more ; of the sacrifice of public 
and private credit a thousand million more ; and of 
a depreciation in value of all their real estate at 
least seventy-five per cent ; making a loss in toto of 
the whole amount of property, credit, and values, 
in the Southern States alone, of at least nine thou- 
sand million dollars. 

The sacrifice was great. The penalty was 
enough, and after adding to all this their loss of 
life, their indescribable sufferings in various ways, 
commensurate with that of the North in every par- 
ticular, devils only might have thought of further 
vengeance. Yet at this time these things, with many 
others, were not taken into consideration, and the 
South, individually and collectively, passed under a 
wholesale condemnation. 

The autocratic Jeff. Davis, of course, was pro- 
scribed, and with him, had the excited multitude of 
the North the power to make out a list, it would 



JEFF. DAVIS. 331 

have surpassed that of Berkley, two hundred years 
before, a hundred fold. As to their president, who 
came into office like a lion, ruled a season with a 
phosphate cabinet of dummies, and then retired 
more ludicrously than becoming, the act might have 
been justified ; it was at least a burning shame that 
he was ever allowed to hold office again. But our 
Government had freed their negroes, and had ob- 
tained a guarantee of the perpetuation of the Union, 
by the most solemn pledges by which they could 
bind the concurrence of the people. 

This condition the South accepted, and upon the 
strength of it reconstruction went forward, industry 
was renewed, capital sought new fields, and it was 
remarkable how all political questions had given way 
for a time. Johnson, following on the footsteps of 
Lincoln, had bridged the chasm, so that the easy 
restoration of the Union was becoming apparent ; 
and, to such an extent, that the representatives and 
senators of the Southern States, of 1865, were found 
standing at the door of the national capital, knocking 
for an entrance. 

Now comes in that ghastly feature of the Repub- 
lican party — a party that had its birth in a revolu- 
tionary movement — was awakened to the fact that 
their political capital would diminish unless they 
could keep up the struggle, and plant some obstruc- 
tion in the way to the admission of these Southern 
representatives ; for, if the wounds of the war were 
healed too rapidly, peace being made, their mission, 
as a party, would be at an end. These men were 
likewise rejected, even at a roll-call. A joint com- 



332 A RESTORED DEMOCRACY. 

mittee on reconstruction was appointed to inquire 
into the condition of the Southern States, and for 
six months this committee pondered over this ques- 
tion, solving the problem in this way : That the 
Southern States had forfeited all civil and political 
rights and privileges under the Constitution. But 
no distinct policy, no definite means, immediate or 
prospective, for a readmission was given. The Re- 
publican Congress therefore sought out a vice- 
regency that could not be otherwise than distaste- 
ful to civilians who had always enjoyed the beneficent 
privileges of a republican form of government. 
These military governors had given them unlimited 
authority over the courts, and over all the officers 
of the State Legislature, executive and judicial. 

This vice-royal rule bill, giving authority over 
the Constitution, was vetoed by Andrew Johnson, 
who gave his objections to the bill, saying: 

"I submit to Congress whether this measure is 
not, in its whole character, scope, and object, without 
precedent and without authority — in palpable conflict 
with the plainest provisions of the Constitution, and 
utterly destructive of those principles of liberty and 
humanity for which our ancestors, on both sides of 
the Atlantic, have shed so much blood and expended 
so much treasure."" 

By this act every military governor could descend 
to the depths of petty rule (if he so desired), as 
he was lord of his own domain and interpreter of 
his own law; or could, as Hancock did, rise above 
the spirit of the age, and subject the military rule 
to civil law, and thus approve of the course that 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 333 

Washington, the father of our country, had laid 
down. 

The history of the South from this time on, 
under radical rule, furnishes some extraordinary 
facts. Of the ten States thus parceled out for pro- 
bationary purposes, the history of almost any one 
might be taken to serve our purpose ; but as South 
Carolina has always been a noted one, since the 
days of old Jackson, we will turn our attention to 
her for a moment — probably she has been the one 
most rebellious and most abused of any. As a 
State, to the negro race, she probably combined as 
many traits of the Bender family, or James brothers, 
in furnishing terror and destruction to the voters, as 
any in the South. She has a history, in this par- 
ticular, that is not much praised by the tender, 
loving communities of Republican philanthropists 
North; while her history of the tissue-ballot frauds 
is not commendable at all, but almost (if not alto- 
gether) justifiable, in getting rid of the leech that 
had well nigh sucked every drop of blood of her body 
politic. 

The unconstitutional and arbitrary acts of the 
radical rule had incited crimes against the negro ; 
and it seems plain to us why the hot blood of the 
South should become intensely angered on this sub- 
ject, caused by the registration frauds and the injus- 
tice of the apportionment, by which a white majority 
in all the States were so gerrymandered as to insure 
a majority of the negroes in the conventions called 
to frame the organic law. 

There is a preponderance of white population in 



33 i A BESTOEED TiEMOCRAGY. 

all the States in the South ; yet in Florida, while 
the whites, in the census of 1870, had 77,744, and 
the blacks 62,637, the registering office allowed 
4,733 whites to vote, and 9,388 negroes. In Georgia, 
the districts were so laid out as to allow a popula- 
tion of 93,417 blacks to elect 192 delegates, and 
95,303 whites to elect 65 delegates — a large num- 
ber of citizens in this State having been disfran- 
chised ; while in Alabama the majority of blacks 
enrolled for political purposes, over and above the 
actual number, is astonishing. Now, when we re- 
member that the negro i? not essentially changed 
by his emancipation, and yet the same men who have 
always regarded him as cattle or farm stock are now 
compelled to recognize him as their equals, and 
that, too, under a government regarded as a prac- 
tical usurpation, we should make some allowance 
for their detestation of the race. The negroes en 
masse know nothing of the principles of the Repub- 
lican party; and as for national bank systems and 
the currency question, they are all beyond his com- 
prehension. Intellectually, he is not capable of 
casting his vote — not as his " color," nor different 
from instruction received from his preacher or his 
party — but as a general thing he did not vote differ- 
ently from instructions received from Democratic per- 
suaders. Yet, be it said in favor of Wade Hampton, 
who has had gubernatorial control since Hayes was 
elected, that he is not an extremist, and that he is 
conciliatory in allowing the negro to enjoy all rights 
as a white man, politically. He has not been ag- 
gressive in his policy. He is, and has been, all 



PUBLIC REVENUE OF SO UTII CAROLINA. 335 

moderation, and has talked conciliation and o-ood 
feeling-. He claims to be the friend of the negroes, and 
that he was the first man who publicly proposed for 
them a scheme of suffrage, after their emancipation. 

The practical benefits arising from Democratic 
rule in South Carolina, since 1876, are shown by- 
comparing statistics in the two governments. The 
public revenue in South Carolina is raised by tax- 
ation, at its true value, of all real and personal 
property. There is no other tax, excepting an an- 
nual poll tax of one dollar, for educational purposes. 

The seven years of radical rule, the tax was over 
nine mills on the dollar, while that of the Democratic 
rule, during three years, was but six mills on the 
dollar. Thus a taxpayer whose property was as- 
sessed ten thousand dollars in 1870, when the rate 
was nine mills, paid a State tax of ninety dollars ; 
but in 1879, the assessment being reduced in con- 
formity to the decreased rate of assessment, so that 
the ten thousand dollars would be assessed for only 
seven thousand six hundred dollars, which at six 
mills tax, amounts to but fifty-one dollars. 

Now, when we take into consideration the high 
rate of assessment, and add to that a debt of ten 
thousand dollars, we have the radical rule. On 
the other hand, more than a quarter of a million of 
dollars has been saved by the reduction of expenses 
consequent upon the election of the Democratic 
candidate in 1876. Under Moses the State ex- 
penses were several hundred thousand dollars, but 
now, under Hampton, it is only about twenty-five 
thousand dollars. The State officers throughout 



336 ^ RESTORED DEMOCRACY. 

receive diminished salaries. Each year of the rad- 
ical rule left the State with a huge legacy of debts 
to its successor. The money received from State 
taxes each year, under radical rule, is $1,289,905; 
for the Democratic years, an average of $490,834, 
or a saving of no less than $2, 396,01 3 in three 
years. On county taxes reductions have likewise 
been made. 

Probably the radical administration which termi- 
nated with Frank J. Moses was admitted to be one 
of the most unequaled corruptions ever put on 
South Carolina records. The Republicans will 
admit to-day over $5,000,000 was raised by taxation 
upon a fictitious valuation of depreciated property 
of the people, or borrowed upon estimates thereof, 
and squandered to the last dollar for personal ends 
of those who held the reins of government. This 
outrageous government cost the State $17,000,000 
annually, wherein it costs now but $6,000,000. 

When we consider, also, that this people had 
lost 460,000 slaves by emancipation, which had 
caused a loss of over $250,000,000, their property 
otherwise so depreciated that nothing scarcely .re- 
mained to them, it makes matters still worse. A 
building worth $250,000 (the Charleston hotel) be- 
fore the war, was sold recently for $50,000. An- 
other piece of property before the war, whose 
valuation was marked $25,000, was sold for $1,200 
under the hammer, and so on. Facts of this kind 
multiply the further we seek, the last seemingly as 
important as the first. 

Throuehout these States the Democratic author- 



GENERAL THOMAS E WING '8 SPEECH. 337 

ity has come into power ; the old questions of slav- 
ery are put away forever, and these being the 
original cause of the division of the party, it has 
every reason to congratulate itself upon its restora- 
tion to power, though caused by Republican misrule. 

We subjoin a portion of General Thomas Ewing's 
speech, bearing upon this subject, delivered a short 
time since in New York. Mr. Ewing says: 

" Gentlemen, the most obvious fact to-day in 
American politics is that a decided majority of the 
people in nearly all the States are sick and tired of 
the Republican party. That party elected Grant in 
1868 by a popular majority of over half a million. 
Eight years of Republican rule followed, and on a 
much larger popular vote in 1876, the Republican 
party was defeated by a quarter of a million majority. 
Though through fraud and bribery it has since held 
on to power, its thinned ranks have never been re- 
cruited ; and two years ago it held a popular major- 
ity in only six States in the Union. 

" And now comes another presidential election. 
Has the Republican party done aught to win a new 
lease of power? Does its rape of the Presidency, 
and its reward of every accomplice in the crime, 
commend it to public favor ? On the contrary, has 
it not, by its desperate resorts to retain power, suffi- 
ciently warned the people that their safety demands 
that it retain it no longer ? 

"For three sessions of Congress the Democrats 
have had a desperate struggle with the Republican 
party. About what? About any ordinary question 
of public policy or civil administration ? No, gen- 



338 A RESTORED DEMOCRACY. 

tlemen ; but to keep bayonets from the polls ; to 
keep partisan marshals from using the common 
treasure to bully and bribe electors ; to keep elec- 
tions where they have been from the foundation of 
our Government down to 1872 — under the exclusive 
control of our State governments. We have, in 
short, been fighting the Republican party to pre- 
serve from its assaults the ancient liberty of our race, 
and the essential and immemorial methods of our 
perfect system of government. 

Why has the Republican party inaugurated the 
monstrosity in government of a federal supervision 
of State officers, while exercising powers and per- 
forming duties, under valid State laws ; and a fed- 
eral control of elections, by bribing and bullying 
electors ? It is because its command of popular 
majorities is gone, and it is now struggling to over- 
come those majorities by operating on the fears and 
cupidity of the people at the polls. If this policy of 
federal supervision and control of elections be ac- 
quiesced in and established, the choice of both the 
electoral college and of Congress will fall under the 
sway of the President. The Presidency will thus 
become self-perpetuating, and the Congress a mere 
organ of the executive. 

"The Republican leaders are driven to these 
desperate measures, not so much by a wish to 
change our free institutions, as by extreme love and 
long habit of power. Twenty years of absolute 
control of the o-eneral Government and of its vast 
patronage, measured, as that patronage is, by hun- 
dreds of millions annually, is something to fight for. 



PRESIDENT HA YES. 339 

See the multitude of men who, since i860, have 
risen to fortune and position by it ! Half the great 
wars, which have drenched the earth with blood, 
were fought to win less treasure than annually falls 
within the disposal of the ruling party in the United 
States. An unwillingness to surrender less than 
half this power and patronage was, at least, one of 
the causes which fired that shot on Sumter, which 
so changed the fortunes of white men and black 
throughout America. When fresh in power, the 
Republican party recognized the people as masters ; 
but holding on and on for half a generation, it grad- 
ually mistook itself for the state, and regarded 
opposition to it as treason, to be defeated at all 
hazards. The grossly partisan rulings of a majority 
of the electoral commission, the troops, and mar- 
shals, and spies at the polls, the bustle of armament 
here and at Washington in December, 1876, to sus- 
tain Mr. Ferry's proposed pronunciamento declaring 
Hayes President without the action of the repre- 
sentatives of the people, all attest that at least the 
chief leaders of the Republican party place their 
hold of power above our liberties, and warn the peo- 
ple to turn that party out while they can, lest the 
time come when, aggregating, combining, and direct- 
ing with one aim all the influences, not only of the 
Government, but also of the classes who profit most 
by its patronage and privileges, it will defy all peace- 
ful attempts to expel it from power. 

"But, my fellow-citizens, aside from the consid- 
erations which go to the safety of our free insti- 
tutions, the people ought to elect a Democratic 



340 A RESTORED DEMOCRACY'. 

President as a mere matter of business. Seven or 
eight thousand million dollars have been paid by the 
people in taxes since i860, and disposed of by the 
Republican dynasty. Who has looked at the books ? 
None but members of the dynasty which spent the 
money. Who can tell whether the account of money 
received and expended, and of bonds and green- 
backs issued, canceled or on hand, is within a hun- 
dred millions of being correct ? Some years ago 
there was published here a series of articles in one 
of your financial journals, purporting to show from 
the reports of the Treasury themselves that hun- 
dreds of millions of the public moneys and bonds 
were missing or unaccounted for. Such partial 
glimpses of the treasury books as a Democratic 
Senate committee has obtained, showed them too 
full of erasures and insertions to at all reassure the 
doubters. It is only common business sense to 
submit the books to the inspection of a party which 
is not responsible for them, and, therefore, is certain 
to find and expose any existing defalcations ; so that 
if frauds have been committed in addition to those 
already exposed, the perpetrators may be punished 
by arrest or exile; and so that if no further frauds 
are discovered, the people may have at least the 
melancholy satisfaction that they know the worst. 

" Aside from considerations of public virtue, 
considerations of economy demand a change of ad- 
ministration. In March, 1875, after fifteen years of 
complete control, by the Republican party, of the 
Executive Departments, and both branches of Con- 
gress, the Democratic House of Representatives 



BED UCTION OF EXPENSES. 341 

was installed. In the five years that followed, the 
Democracy reduced the expenses of the Govern- 
ment, excluding pensions, on an average, over $27,- 
000,000 a year as compared with five years preced- 
ing. No fog ol sophistry, evasion or equivocation 
can obscure that shining fact. There it stands to 
the credit of the Democratic party, and of the peo- 
ple who put this bridle on Republican license and 
extravagance. 

" But here our economizing must stop. We 
can go no further. The expenses of the Govern- 
ment, exclusive of pensions and public debt, are 
still $27,000,000 in excess of the like expenses, in 
proportion to population, in Buchanan's day. I can 
see no reason why that additional $29,000,000 can 
not be saved each year. The rate of interest of 
our national expenditures should not exceed the 
rate of increase of our population. Hence, while 
we have saved $26,000,000 a year, it is only half 
what could be saved without disturbing pensioners 
or public creditors, or withholding any needed in- 
crease of the public service. 

"Fellow-citizens, I know that an audience in the 
city of New York is not one to give most heed to 
a question of economizing public expenditure, but 
this is well worthy of your attention. The saving 
the Democracy has made in national expenditure 
lightens the burden of the people of this city over 
half a million dollars each year, and lightens the 
burden of the people of this State about one 
and a half millions annually. The Democracy 
have not only made this great annual saving, but 



342 A RESTORED DEMOCRACY. 

will proceed to save as much more when it elects 
Hancock. 

" But I may be asked why have we not before 
this saved the other $29,000,000 ? The reason 
is plain. Being outside of the administration, we 
could only detect and cut off the most obviously 
excessive expenditures. For every big leak we stop 
there are a dozen small ones which we can 't get 
at ; and you know the Scotch adage, ' many littles 
make a mickle.' The frontiersman, when prepar- 
ing his cabin for Winter, goes around it outside with 
' chinkin and daubin,' stopping the big holes ; but 
he can 't see the small ones until he goes inside on 
a bright day and shuts the doors and blinds, and 
then the light streams in through a thousand unno- 
ticed crevices. Now, the Democracy have stopped 
the big leaks, which was all that outsiders could ac- 
complish. Let the people send us inside to find and 
stop the small ones. If we don 't do it, then turn 
us out, and advertise for proposals for an honest 
and economical administration. 

" My fellow - citizens, there is another and a 
stronger reason for a change of administration, on 
which I could talk by the hour. Such a change is 
essential to the restoration of harmony between the 
North and South. The chief stock in trade of the 
Republican party has been and is distrust and hate 
of the South. That party will never do, or suffer 
to be done, any thing to impair its capital. Now 
that the grave has closed on half the actors in our 
unhappy tragedy, it is time its resentments were 
buried too. The pretense that the South meditates 



CHANGES OF ADMINISTRATION. 343 

a disturbance of the settlements of the war, or com- 
pensation for all, or in any part, of their losses by 
it, I believe to be utterly and flagitiously false. Yet, 
that charge reiterated a million times in every cam- 
paign in the North has created apprehensions of 
danger from Southern influence in our politics, be- 
hind which the Republican party has dodged and 
escaped condemnation for its own misdeeds. Sound 
policy demands that these partisan accusations be 
put to the test. If they should prove true, which I 
am sure they will not, the overwhelming numbers 
and sentiment of the North will overthrow the party 
responsible for such schemes. If they prove false, 
as I am sure they will, the administration of Han- 
cock will demonstrate that South and North are in 
fact one in devotion to our country and its laws, and 
will bring on an era of good feeling and prosperous 
intercourse between the sections, which will give a 
new impulse to our already marvelous development. 
" Fellow-citizens, at no time in our political his- 
tory, until now, has any party held power over 
twelve years. The genius of our Government de- 
mands frequent changes of administration ; change 
for the sake of change ; change to prevent abuses 
from becoming rooted and venerable ; change to 
teach the lesson to parties, which the two-term rule 
teaches to Presidents, that they are servants of the 
people — not their masters. In 1872 the voters were 
ripe for a change, and would have made it but for 
the blunder committed by the Liberal Republicans 
at Cincinnati in selecting a candidate for President 
who, though most worthy of support, could not pos- 



344 A RESTORED DEMOCRACY. 

sibly get the solid vote of the Democracy. In 1876 
the people decided to have a change, but were swin- 
dled out of their choice by returning boards of expir- 
ing carpet-bag governments, aided by their allies at 
Washington. Now, at last, the hour and the man 
have come." 



THE 



NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

FIRST DA Y OF THE CINCINNA TI CONVENTION. 

CINCINNATI AND THE HOTELS — NOTED PERSONAGES — MUSIC HALL — THE 
DECORATIONS — THE PRESS AND TELEGRAPHIC ASSOCIATIONS — THE 
DELEGATIONS — TAMMANY HALL — INDIANA DELEGATION — TILDEN's 
LETTER — THE SOUTHERN DELEGATES — MEETING AT THE HALL — 
JUDGE HOADLEY'S SPEECH — PRELIMINARY BUSINESS — APPOINT- 
MENT OF COMMITTEES. 

THE National Democratic Convention that nom- 
inated General Winfield Scott Hancock for the 
Presidency convened in Music Hall, Cincinnati, on 
Tuesday, June 22, 1880, at 12:38 P. M. 

Cincinnati had been looking forward to this event 
with some interest, especially in a monetary sense. 
The great party which had so often been defeated 
also looked forward to this time, but in a differ, 
ent way. It had convened, now, with the Doug 
las, the Breckinridge, and the Bell factions in solid 
phalanx, which combination had cast nearly a mil- 
lion more votes than the Republicans gave Lincoln 
in i860. Since that time they have been nearing, 
closer and closer to each other, until now the blue 
and the gray have grasped hands across Mason's and 
Dixon's line, with all former barriers thrown down 
and out of the way for the future of the party. 

The city, for a day or so previous to the grand 



3 40 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

opening, presented one grand mass of living, ani- 
mated beings, swaying to and fro, filling the streets, 
the hotels, the boarding-houses, and in fact every 
nook and corner in the city. The more fortunate 
ones (I mean financially) could take rooms or a whole 
house, just as they wished. August Belmont took up 
his residence in a palatial structure on Fourth Street, 
paying for the luxury during that one week the sum 
of $1,000. Others were quite exacting in their de- 
mands, and paid accordingly, from $50 to $75 and 
$100 per day. The Grand hotel averaged nearly 
nine hundred guests per day, which netted them an 
income for the week of about $60,000. The Gibson 
also was overrun, and likewise the Emery, Burnet, 
and all the hotels were packed, and made a mint of 
money. Cincinnati was, in fact, the most hospitable 
city in the country for a few days just about that 
time. A man could get the commonest kind of a 
room all to himself for $16 a day, and could have 
one, two, or more bed- fellows, and it was all the 
same, without extra charge. And there were the 
restaurants willing to give a man just as much to 
eat as he was willing to pay for. 

The delegates were all safely quartered and ac- 
tively engaged in earnest work before the Conven- 
tion opened, which was early in the afternoon, when 
they began to file into the large, commodious hall 
tastefully decorated, which, by that time, had be- 
come absolutely packed. A fair picture of George 
Washington was at the end of the hall, while 
portraits of Hendricks, Randall, and others adorned 
the platform. The stage enabled the committee to 



THE STA GE DECORA TIONS. 347 

seat about seven hundred delegates, and so that 
none were out of sight and hearing of the presiding- 
officer. The cross platform occupied the front part 
of the stage, while the remainder of the front half 
of the floor was occupied by the various delegations. 
The location of each delegation was designated by a 
very handsome banner of blue silk, trimmed with gold 
fringes, and bearing the name of the State and a sin- 
gle star in gold leaf. 

The line of demarkation between delegates and 
spectators was designated by a bar across the aisles 
and a cord across the hall from the balconies, which 
supported in the middle a pale-blue banner with the 
motto, " Ohio Greets the Nation." 

From the capitals of the columns on both sides 
floated stands of flags representing the nations of the 
earth. Above, the upper gallery was draped the flag 
of our country ; below, in gold, upon a field of red 
surrounded with a band of yellow, was the legend 
" Welcome." The stage had been reserved for 
ladies — of whom there were two or three hundred 
present — for the national committee, officers, dis- 
tinguished people, etc., etc. 

The full stage, the terraced seats, the imposing 
organ, the sweeping curves and arches of the walls, 
drapings, colors, etc., made, upon the whole a beau- 
tiful sight. On the front of the balcony, hung so as 
to face the chair, was the picture of Washington, sur- 
rounded by a frame of evergreens and draped with 
the national colors. Also over the doors and 
under the galleries were found some few drapings, 
while on the walls were shields with the stars 



348 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

and stripes across their faces, with such mottoes 
as "Abundance," "Victory," "Commerce," "En- 
terprise," "Industry," etc., etc. 

But we must not forget the news gatherers. Of 
all the busy people on hand that day these were the 
busiest workers. There was work for the short-hand 
reporter and the telegraph operator. Some idea of 
the amount of work done by these papers may be 
formed from the fact that the incredible round num- 
ber of six hundred thousand words were reported 
daily for these associations, including all work done, 
which amounts to about three hundred columns of 
newspaper matter daily. So admirable was the ar- 
rangement (or accomplishing this work, that during 
the busiest day of the session, amid all the hurry 
and confusion and excitement, kept up in a regular 
" hurly-burly " fashion, that at the close of the con- 
vention each day, as soon as the adjournment was 
announced, the verbatim report of the long, labori- 
ous session was made out in full. All these reports 
were for hundreds of newspapers over the whole 
country, and were telegraphed immediately and with 
much expedition, lest it should delay the publica- 
tion ; and so admirable was the arrangement for 
transmitting the proceedings by telegraph, that no 
sooner was the convention adjourned than the entire 
day's proceeding were ready for the press. The 
Cincinnati papers were out and being sold on the 
street twenty minutes after the close of the session 
of the day. 

There were the Western Associated Press, the 
New York Associated Press, and the National As- 



THE PRESS ASSOCIA TIONS. 34 9 

sociated Press, all being large, well-organized forces. 
These different associated presses had under em- 
ploy a number of short-hand reporters (some as 
high as seven on that occasion), a manifold copyist, 
and a general agent with assistants. The work was 
then divided in such a manner that relief could be 
given to one another. In other words, the work was 
divided into "takes" of five minutes each; that is, 
a phonographer makes notes of the proceedings in 
short-hand for five minutes, and is then relieved by 
another, whereupon he immediately transcribes his 
notes. These takes are given in regular order of 
succession, and so accurately timed that the reporter 
is not called upon to take notes until he has tran- 
scribed his former "take." All dangers of confusion 
were avoided by an ingenious system of numbering 
and lettering. The transcript copy goes to one of 
the assistants, who carefully edits it before it is 
sent to the telegraphers. 

The Western Union located its office in the north 
corridor, and its operating room was a frame shed 
erected in the space between Music Hall and the 
north wing of the Exposition Buildings ; the Amer- 
ican Union and Atlantic and Pacific companies had 
their offices and rooms in the north corridor. Each 
of these companies had ifs messengers distributed 
through the convention to carry telegrams to the 
receiver, and to deliver answers. Through this 
means not only were the candidates enabled to keep 
in constant communication with those who were 
managing their canvass in the convention, but so 
all the delegates could keep posted as to the wishes 



350 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

of prominent constituents, and the newspaper writ- 
ers could (as they did) forward their descriptions and 
observations, page by page, to the offices of the 
papers that they represent. The telegraph compa- 
nies, too, were doing a species of reporting on their 
own responsibility. To their patrons, and for post- 
ing at the newspaper and telegraph offices, they sent 
bulletins, curtly recording the successive events of 
the session. This developed a lively competition 
between the two Union companies, as to the com- 
parative quickness with which the intelligence could 
be transmitted. The Western Union had forty-three 
wires and thirty-two quadruplex instruments regu- 
larly at work, as well as six single wires to points 
where the quadruplex was unavailable, and another 
wire connecting the offices. It had from thirty to 
forty operators at work at the convention, and one 
hundred more in the main office, entirely on conven- 
tion business, and twenty-nine messenger boys, 
some of whom were mounted, to carry dispatches 
speedily to the main office, when they could best be 
sent from there. It had twelve sendings to New 
York. The American Union had ten wires to the 
hall, and twenty-five messenger boys. It did very 
quick work with its bulletins, and had a large share 
of the special work for the newspapers. There 
were so-called loops in the offices of the New York 
World, Tribune, and Sun — that is, branch wires 
with operators in the buildings, by means of which 
those papers received a running report of the pro- 
ceedings. The Atlantic and Pacific had also ten 
wires, which were made to do double their capacity 



SAMUEL J. TILDEN. 351 

with the duplex instruments. There were short 
wires and messengers between the offices to aid in 
rapid work, and eighteen extra operators had been 
added to the twelve regulars. The manager esti- 
mates that he handled 1,500 messages daily, as 
well as the report made for the National Associated 
Press. 

There was considerable speculation among the 
different delegations respecting Tilden and his letter 
of declination. Many who were his warm support- 
ers could see every reason brought out in the letter 
why he should be nominated. They regarded the 
letter as appealing with great force to every Dem- 
ocrat, as a statement of wrongs the party had suf- 
fered, and of his great services to the party ; and 
also believed that if Mr. Tilden could receive the 
undivided support of the convention, he would ac- 
cept the nomination. Others, somewhat prejudiced 
against him, believed that the letter was not in- 
tended as a withdrawal — was only a Talleyrand 
trick, in which he used words to cover up the real 
meaning. 

As Mr. Tilden figured so prominently in our 
country's history during the preceding canvass, and 
as his letter is pregnant with political thoughts of 
the day, we here insert it : 

"New York, June 18, 18S0. 
" To the Delegates from the State of New York to the Democratic 
National Convention : 

"Your first assembling is an occasion on which 
it is proper for me to state to you my relation to 
the nomination for the Presidency, which you and 



352 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

your associates are commissioned to make in behalf 
of the Democratic party of the United States. 

" Having passed my earlier years in an atmos- 
phere filled with traditions of the war which secured 
our national independence, and of the struggles 
which made our continental system a government 
for the people, by the people, I learned to idolize 
the institutions of my country, and was educated to 
believe it the duty of a citizen of the Republic to 
take his fair allotment of care and trouble in public 
affairs. 

" I fulfilled that duty to the best of my ability 
for forty years as a private citizen. Although dur- 
ing all my life giving at least as much thought and 
effort to public affairs as to all other objects, I have 
never accepted official service, except for a brief 
period, for a special purpose, and only when the oc- 
casion seemed to require of me that sacrifice of pri- 
vate preferences to public interests. My life has 
been substantially that of a private citizen. 

11 It was, I presume, the success of efforts in 
which, as a private citizen, I had shared, to over- 
throw a corrupt combination then holding dominion 
in our metropolis, and to purify the judiciary, which 
had become its tool, that induced the Democracy of 
the State, in 1874, to nominate me for governor. 
This was done in spite of the protests of a minority 
that the part I had borne in these reforms had cre- 
ated antagonisms fatal to me as a candidate. I felt 
constrained to accept the nomination as the most 
certain means of putting the power of the guber- 
natorial office on the side of reform, and of remov- 



A QUARTER OF A MILLION. 358 

ing the impression, wherever it prevailed, that the 
faithful discharge of one's duty as a citizen is fatal 
to his usefulness as a public servant. 

"The breaking up of the canal ring, the better 
management of our public works, the large reduc- 
tion of taxes, and other reforms accomplished during 
my administration, doubtless occasioned my nomina- 
tion for the Presidency by the Democracy of the 
Union, in the hope that similar processes would be 
applied to the Federal Government. From the re- 
spond'.) Tities of such an undertaking, appalling as it 
seemed to me, I did not feel at liberty to shrink. 

" In the canvass which ensued, the Democratic 
party represented reform in the administration of 
the Federal Government and a restoration of our 
complex political system to the pure ideas of its 
founders. Upon these issues the people of the 
United States, by a majority of more than a quarter 
of a million, chose a majority of the electors to cast 
their votes for the Democratic candidates for Pres- 
ident and Vice-president. 

"It is my right and privilege here to say that I 
was nominated and elected to the Presidency, abso- 
lutely free from any engagement in respect to the 
exercise of its powers or the disposal of its patron- 
age. Through the whole period of my relation to 
the Presidency, I did every thing in my power to ele- 
vate, and nothing to lower, moral standards in the 
competition of parties. 

" By what nefarious means the basis for a false 
count was laid in several of the States I need not 
recite. These are now matters of history, about 

23 



354 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

which, whatever diversity of opinion may have ex- 
isted in either of the great parties of the country at 
the time of their consummation, has since practically 
disappeared. 

" I refused to ransom from the returnine boards 
of Southern States the documentary evidence, by the 
suppression of which, and by the substitution of 
fraudulent and forged papers, a pretext was made 
for the perpetration of a false count. 

" The constitutional duty of the two Houses of 
Congress to count the electoral votes as cast, and 
to give effect to the will of the people, as expressed 
by their suffrages, was never fulfilled. An electoral 
commission, for the existence of which I have no re- 
sponsibility, was formed, and to it the two Houses 
of Congress abdicated their duty to make the count, 
by a law enacting that the count of the commission 
should stand as final, unless overruled by the con- 
current action of the two Houses. Its false count 
was not overruled, owing to the complicity of a Re- 
publican Senate with the Republican majority of the 
commission. 

"Controlled by its Republican majority of eight 
to seven, the Electoral Commission counted out the 
men elected by the people, and counted in the men 
not elected by the people. 

" That subversion of the election created a new 
issue for the decision of the people of the United 
States, transcending in importance all the questions 
of administration. It involved the vital principle of 
self-government through elections by the people. 

"The immense growth of the means of corrupt 



I NFL UENCE VER THE BALL OT-BOX. 355 

influence over the ballot-bot, which is at the dispo- 
sal of the party having possession of the executive 
administration, had already become a present evil 
and a great danger, tending to make elections irre- 
sponsive to public opinion, hampering the power of 
the people to change their rulers, and enabling the 
men holding the machinery of Government to con- 
tinue and perpetuate their power. It was my 
opinion in 1876 that the opposition, attempting to 
change the administration, needed to include at 
least two-thirds of the voters at the opening of the 
canvass in order to retain a majority at the election. 
"If, after such obstacles had been overcome and 
a majority of the people had voted to change the 
administrations of their Government, the men in 
office could still procure a false count founded upon 
frauds, perjuries, and forgeries, furnishing a pretext 
of documentary evidence on which to base that false 
count, and if such a transaction were not only suc- 
cessful, but if, after allotment of its benefits were 
made to its contrivers, abettors, and apologists by 
the chief beneficiary of the transaction, it were con- 
doned by the people, a practical destruction of elec- 
tions by the people would have been accomplished. 
The failure to install the candidates chosen by the 
people, a contingency consequent upon no act or 
omission of mine, and beyond my control, has thus 
left me for the last three years, and until now, when 
the Democratic party, by its delegates in National 
Convention assembled, shall choose a new leader, 
the involuntary but necessary representative of this 
momentous issue. 



356 -Y.l TIONAL DEMOCRATIC COJS VENTION. 

" As such, denied the immunities of private life, 
without the powers conferred by public station, sub- 
ject to unceasing falsehoods and calumnies from the 
partisans of an administration laboring in vain to 
justify its existence, I have, nevertheless, steadfastly 
endeavored to preserve to the Democratic party of 
the United States the supreme issue before the peo- 
ple for their decision next November whether this 
shall be a Government by the sovereign people 
through elections, or a Government by discarded 
servants holding over by force and fraud. And I 
have withheld no sacrifice and neglected no oppor- 
tunity to uphold, organize, and consolidate against 
the enemies of representative institutions the great 
party which alone, under God, can effectually resist 
their overthrow. 

" Having now borne faithfully my full share of 
labor and care in the public service, and wearing 
the marks of its burdens, I desire nothing so much 
as an honorable discharge. I wish to lay down the 
honors and toils of even quasi party leadership, and 
to seek the repose of private life. 

" In renouncing renomination for the Presidency, 
I do so with no doubt in my mind as to the vote of 
the State of New York, or of the United States, but 
because I believe that it is a renunciation of re-elec- 
tion to the Presidency. 

"To those who think my renomination and re- 
election indispensable to an effectual vindication of 
the right of the people to elect their rulers, violated 
in my person, I have accorded as long a reserve of 
my decision as possible, but I can not overcome my 



THE VABIO US DELEGA TIONS. 357 

repugnance to enter into a new engagement which 
involves four years of ceaseless toil. 

"The dignity of the Presidential office is above 
a merely personal ambition, but it creates in me no 
illusion. Its value is as a great power for good to 
the country. I said four years ago in accepting 
nomination : 

11 • Knowing as I do, therefore, from fresh expe- 
rience, how great the difference is between gliding 
through an official routine and working out a reform 
of systems and policies, it is impossible for me to 
contemplate what needs to be done in the Federal 
Administration without an anxious sense of the dif- 
ficulties of the undertaking. If summoned by the 
suffrages of my countrymen to attempt this work, 
I shall endeavor, with God's help, to be the efficient 
instrument of their will.' 

"Such a work of renovation after many years of 
misrule, such a reform of systems and policies, to 
which I would cheerfully have sacrificed all that re- 
mained to me of health and life, is now, I fear, be- 
yond my strength. 

" With unfeigned thanks for the honors bestowed 
upon me, with a heart swelling with emotions of 
graitude to the Democratic masses for the support 
which they have given to the cause which I repre- 
sented, and their steadfast confidence in every emer- 
gency, I remain your fellow-citizen, 

f " Samuel J. Tilden." 

The different delegations had met prior to the 
convention, and each one had elected its officers. 



358 NA TIONA L DEMOCRA TIC COX VEXTIOX. 

Noticeable among these delegations was that of 
Tammany Hall, under the guidance of Mr. Thomas 
Brennan, accompanied by an excellent band from 
New York. They arrived at the depot at 4:30 P, M. 
Sunday, by a special train, and were met by Hon. 
John Kelley and Augustus Schell, and others, with a 
detail of police. After falling into line, headed by 
Bosses Kelley and Schell, in first carriage, and other 
Tammany chiefs, the rank and file to the number 
of five hundred, walking, marched through the 
streets to their head-quarters at the Burnet House. 
The delegation made a favorable impression, being 
a fine looking body of men. 

This delegation was distinguishable by a narrow 
blue badge, with the following, in gold letters, 
printed thereon : 

"TAMMANY HALL. 
1880. 

New York Delegation. 

Unite and Couquer. 

WE ARE UNALTERABLY OPPOSED TO TILDENISM." 

As to their object, the main point seemed to be 
to make all the noise possible against Tilden. They 
had no candidate, but intended to support the nom- 
inee of the convention heartily, if he was not Tilden. 

The faithful and devoted Hendricks (Indiana) del- 
egation, at a full meeting in their rooms in the Burnet 
House, passed the following resolutions, which they 
unanimously adopted, and every delegate signed : 

" Whereas, This delegation has learned that 
efforts have been and are being made to divert 
public attention from the fact that the Democracy 



ACTION OF INDIANA DELEGATES. 359 

of Indiana is a unit for Thomas A. Hendricks for 
President ; and 

" Whereas, The name of Senator M' Donald has 
been and still is being used in connection with that 
nomination, without any agency on his part, and 
against his reiterated protest, he being the unqual- 
ified friend and advocate of Mr. Hendricks for the 
high position for which the Democracy of Indiana 
has unanimously designated him; therefore, be it 

"Resolved, That we, the delegates for Indiana to 
the National Convention, in accordance, with the 
unanimous instructions of the Democratic State 
Convention of Indiana, do hereby emphatically de- 
clare that we will adhere to and stand by Mr. Hen- 
dricks as our candidate for President, and will 
steadfastly reject any and all suggestions or pro- 
posals as to the use of the name of any other citi- 
zen of Indiana for that office ; and, further, that we 
will steadfastly reject any suggestion or proposal 
for the use of the name of any citizen of Indiana 
for the office of Vice-president. 

Joseph E. M'Donald, D. W. Voorhees, 

William E. Niblack, James R. Slack, 

John Nestor, A. J. Hostetler, 

\V. G. Kidd, Wm. A. Traylor, 

John R. Cravens, Joseph H. Burkham, 

D. G. Vawter, Eb. Henderson, 

Wm. Thertlewaite. Milton James, 

Oscar B. Hord, W. Scott Ray, 

C. A. Knight, Wm. Mack, 

John R. Coffroth, Theodore Davis, 

Rufus Magee, D. F. Skinner, 

David Studabaker, C. H. Brownell, 

Allen Zollars, O. D. Willett, 

Edward Hawkins, A. F. Wilden. 



360 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

The New York delegation, upon receiving Mr. 
Tilden's letter of withdrawal, assembled at their 
head-quarters, at the Grand Hotel, and passed the 
following resolution : 

"Resolved, That with a sense of profound grat- 
itude for his great services to the country and to 
the Democratic party, and unqualified admiration 
for his character and ability, this delegation has re- 
ceived, with deep regret, the impressive declination 
of Governor Tilden to be a candidate for renomina- 
tion and re-election to the Presidency of the United 
States." 

The Nebraska delegation was partial to Tilden, 
also, as likewise others. Other State delegations 
favored their particular man for the Presidency, but 
none took so decided a stand as Indiana did for 
Hendricks. 

The South came almost as a unit for supporting 
the nominee of the convention, and had no selection 
made from the Southern States. They were anxious 
for the North to give them a good man whom they 
would favor. 

The delegates convened at the hall at 12:30 
P. M., where they found a large assembly in wait- 
ing. Mr. Barnum, of Connecticut, chairman of the 
National Central Committee, took the chair, and 
after calling the convention to order, presented Rev. 
C. W. Wendte, who opened the convention with 
prayer. 

After the religious services, Mr. Barnum, ac- 
cording to instructions received from the National 
Committee, placed in nomination for temporary 



J UD GE HOADL Y \S SPEECH. 361 

chairman of the convention the Hon. Geo. Hoadly, 
who was elected by an unanimous vote. 

Mr. Barnum then proceeded to appoint the Hon. 
W. M. Scott and Hon. H. D. M' Henry a committee 
to wait upon Mr. Hoadly and conduct him to the 
platform; which, when done, Judge Hoadly said: 

" Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the National 
Executive Committee: I obey this call to the chair 
of this convention with grateful acknowledgment of 
the confidence reposed in me. It shall be my sed- 
ulous care to prove worthy of your nomination. 

''Fellow delegates and fellow Democrats, thanks 
for your welcome, your generous welcome, my best 
response to which can be the strictest impartiality 
in the exercise of power during the brief period 
it is committed to me. I shall make mistakes — 
I trust you will forgive them ; I am sure you 
will, as soon as I satisfy you that, although as a 
delegate, I am the zealous friend, even in the 
partisan sense, of my favorite candidate. As your 
officer, I shall know neither friend nor foe of any 
candidate, but discharge my duty with absolute fair- 
ness and fidelity of purpose. Of this you have my 
pledge. 

"Gentlemen of the convention, our fathers, dis- 
trusting popular choice, established in each State 
an electoral college, to whose unpledged action they 
sought to entrust the election of the chief magistrate 
of the Republic. Their children, taught by experi- 
ence, have wisely modified the constitutional scheme 
by an unwritten amendment, which combines the 
advantages of the electoral system with the direct 



3G2 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

popular vote, while it preserves to each State its 
just weight of influence upon the result. Conven- 
tions of delegates chosen by the people of two or 
more parties have already presented candidates for 
popular acceptance at the coming election, and 
another great college of electors is now assembled 
in this hall. The office you thus fill, though not de- 
fined by law, is of transcendant legal consequence. 
I need not say that in this assembly it will not be 
doubted that you are not delegates from congres- 
sional districts, but representatives of those inde- 
structible units of our indestructible Union — the 
States. Custom has defined your duties. They 
are to construct a platform and to nominate candi- 
dates. You are not, however, called together to 
create a creed, but to apply a known principle to 
present public affairs. 

" The Democratic principle does not date its 
birth from your assembling, and will not perish with 
the success or defeat of the candidates you nom- 
inate. It is eternal ; a divine fire burning in the 
hearts of men ; it quickens the thought of the states- 
man ; nerves the arm of the soldier ; and doubles 
the energy of the toiler. It is found in the Roman 
precept, " suum cuique tribuere? and in the self- 
evident truth of American patriotism, that all men 
are created equal. It is the unrelenting foe of des- 
potism and of Communism, whether open or sought 
to be hidden under the disguise of paternal gov- 
ernments. Its beneficent office in political affairs is 
to secure to every man the utmost possible liberty 
of action consistent with equal liberty to every other. 



WERE NOT INA UG URATED. 363 

Yours is not, therefore, the office of invention, but 
of promulgation ; not to discover, but to declare 
and to apply the democratic principle to the changing 
affairs of human society, and that this principle may 
have living force in public concerns, you will nom- 
inate candidates whose election will insure its full 
fruition during the next presidential term. These 
duties no Democrat doubts you will worthily per- 
form. But you are called to discharge, this day, 
under circumstances of no common moment — cir- 
cumstances which God in his mercy grant shall, in 
the history of our Republic, never recur. Four 
years ago, the Democratic party, in convention as- 
sembled, at St. Louis, announced to the country its 
platform, and nominated as its candidates two of the 
foremost statesmen of the nation, both then and now 
worthy of the most enthusiastic political devotion 
and the most ardent private friendship, and Samuel 
J. Tilden and Thomas A. Hendricks were elected 
President and Vice-president of the United States, 
elected as fairly as was George Washington or James 
Monroe. That they were not inaugurated ; that the 
chief magistrate of this nation has for more than 
three years been one whom the people and electors 
rejected ; that, in the executive department, govern- 
ment by the people has ceased, since March 4, 1877, 
is a living monument seen now of all men, and to 
be remembered in all generations, of the fraud of 
the Republican party, of its infidelity to republican 
principles, of its willingness to sacrifice the right of 
popular election — that ■ vital principle of republics ' — 
rather than relax its hold upon power ; and of the 



364 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

loyalty of the Democratic party even to the forms 
of law, of its confidence that the will of the people 
must finally prevail — abiding in which it patiently 
waits for the full fruition of its hopes until March 
4, 1 88 1. But no longer — no longer, unless defeated 
at the polls. If beaten fairly, we shall submit — I 
repeat, we shall submit, and again wait ; but if again 
successful, no cunning devices of dishonest arbitra- 
tion shall deprive us of our rights. The Democratic 
party will never again appear before a tribunal falsely 
called of justice, a tribunal deaf to the appeal of testi- 
mony, but not blind to the beckoning finger of favor. 
But though we failed to inaugurate our candidate, our 
cause was not, even for the moment, wholly lost. Re- 
tributive justice visited, without delay, the immediate 
author of this infamy. The courts of Florida had 
thwarted the conspirators who proposed the theft of 
its State government, and the stern refusal of the 
Democratic House of Representatives to appropriate 
a man or a dollar to continue the subjugation of South 
Carolina and Louisiana, soon forced the oppressor to 
relax his grasp. No trace now remained of the 
carpet-bag government of the South, except the 
$170,000,000 increased public debt they contrived, 
in seven years of misgovernment, to heap upon its 
impoverished people. Yes, another trace remained — 
Louisiana, entitled by the Constitution to two sen- 
ators, is represented by one. The seat of the other 
is filled by a delegate from a band of outlaws, never 
recognized as a government, long since dispersed, 
some to fatten on the federal treasury, and some to 
eat the bread of exile. 



BONAPARTISM. 365 

"The years that have passed since the. theft of 
the Presidency have been years of plenteous har- 
vests. The labor of the husbandman has reaped 
rich reward ; the earth has been tickled with the hoe, 
and has laughed at the harvest. The benison of 
the Most High has been upon us, and the oppor- 
tunities afforded by his gracious favor, wisely em- 
ployed in the economies of two successive Dem- 
ocratic Congresses, have made possible that partial 
measure of resumed payment of the national float- 
ing debt, and that equalization of values called by 
the Republican party the ' resumption of specie pay- 
ments.' But the new prosperities awakened by for- 
eign demand and the abundant domestic products, 
were gifts to the American people from a higher 
source than any agency of the Republican party. 
No soldiers kept the peace of the corn fields, no 
swarming hordes canvassed the wheat sheaves, no 
supervisors or deputy marshals assisted at the gath- 
ering into the garners, no Electoral Commission 
gave its blessings to the harvests. They were the 
fruits of labor, the gracious gifts of the laborer, of 
him who is the largest benefactor in society, the High 
Priest of the democratic hierarchy. We have been 
spared from one great danger since the eighth day of 
June, 1880 — it has been certain that the usurper will 
not be immediately followed by the monarch — but 
the third term is postponed, not averted, and the 
real danger is not in the third term so much as in 
the Republican party, which makes the third term 
possible. Bonaparte did not crown himself emperor 
until Bonapartism had corrupted France. When 



366 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

more than three-fifths of any political party invoke a 
' savior of society,' that party is already so poisoned 
with imperialism that it has become itself a menace 
to the republic far more formidable than any mischief 
it professes to fear, or any danger it was organized 
to repel. The remedy, gentlemen, for this, and for 
all other ills of state, is in eternal vigilance. This 
is at once the price and the protector of liberty. 
This vigilance, already newly quickened among the 
people from whom you come, continued here and 
hereafter, is sure to biing victory to the Democratic 
principle and the Democratic candidate — a victory 
so full of hope for the Republic that even the ' mel- 
ancholy days of November ' shall be radiant with 
joy, and on the wings of the stormy winds of March 
shall be wafted blessings. " 

Following the speech, the convention went to 
work with preliminary business. The first received 
was a report of the National Executive Committee, 
which was temporary organization. 

Chairman — Hon. Geo. Hoadly, of Cincinnati. 

Secretary — Hon. F. O. Prince, of Boston, Mas- 
sachusetts. 

Assistant Secretaries — George D. Guthries, of 
Pennsylvania ; Charles Ridley, of Tennessee ; E. S. 
Dodd, of Ohio; O. M. Hall, of Minnesota; Major 
A. Olendorf, of Illinois; W. H. Gill, of New Jersey; 
A. G. Parkinson, of Wisconsin. 

Reading Clei'ks — Neal S. Brown, Jr., House of 
Representatives; Mark A. Hardin, of Georgia; T. 
O. Walker, of Iowa ; Thos. S. Bennett, House of 
Representatives ; Nicholas M. Bell, of Missouri ; E. 



THE COMMITTEEMEN. 



367 



L. Bryan, of Delaware ; James E. Morrison, of 
New York. 

Official Stenographer — Edward B. Dickinson, of 
New York. 

Sergeaiit-at-Arms — Isaac J. Miller, of Ohio. 

After the committes were announced the con- 
vention adjourned, in order to give the various com- 
mittees an opportunity to get to work and finish 

their reports. The committees so honored were 
composed as follows : 

STATES. r>»,r-A.i.»A.i..#»»i RESOLUTIONS. CREDENTIALS. 

ORGANIZA riON. 

Alabama Wm. E. Clark, Win. H. Barnes, Jos. F. Johnston, 

Arkansas D. R. Davidson, M. T. Emery, James M. Hudson. 

California T. F. Thompson, E. H. Mattox, W. P. Frost. 

Colorado J. F. Humphrey, C. S. Thomas, C. Balyer. 

Connecticut Owen B. King, David A. Wells, Ralph Wheeler. 

Delaware E. L. Martin, George H. Bix, A. B. Robinson. 

Florida P. C. Linear, C. C. Younger, E. M. L. Engle. 

Georgia John D. Stuart, Eben T. Howell, T. M. De Young. 

Illinois Charles Dunham, M. W. Fuller, Perry H. Smith. 

Indiana Jos. E. M'Donald, John R. Coffroth, William E. Niblack. 

Iowa E. D. Fenn, John D. Irish, Thomas J. Potter. 

Kansas Gen. G. C. Rogers, John R. Goodwin, Edward Carroll. 

Kentucky William Lindsey, Henry Watterson, J. W. Hay. 

Louisiana G. W. M'Cranie, E. A. Burke, P. Mealey. 

Maine Simon S. Brown, Arch. M'Nichols, Arthur Gewall. 

Maryland Wilmot Johnson, C.J. M. Gwinn, S. Victor Bowman. 

Massachusetts John P. Swiney, C. L. Woodbury, John K. Tarbox. 

Michigan Byron S. Stout, Dr. Foster Pratt, I. E. Nessnaner. 

Minnesota J. C. Pierce, W. W. M'Nair, II. R. Wells. 

Mississippi., R. II. Taylor, E. Barkadale, Warren Cowen. 

Missouri Gibbon Campbell, Joseph Pultzer, W. B.Steele. 

Nebraska J. Sterling Morton, Geo. L. Miller, J. W. Pollok. 

Nevada George Storey, A.C.Ellis, Matthew Canavan. 

N. Hampshire. ..J. W. Drees, Harvey Bingham, Hosea W. Parker. 

New Jersey Rufus Blodgett, C. M. Zurick, Lawrence Phell. 

North Carolina...J. S. Henderson, A. M. Wardell, John Howard. 

Ohio W. E. Hayne, T.J.Kinney, R. S. Shields. 

Oregon F. B. Hogan, T. B. Hogan, A. Nultner. 

Rhode Island John J. Dempsey, N. Van Slike, W. W. Feston. 



3C8 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 



STATES. ,,,,, ' .... . .,.„.„ RESOLUTIONS. CREDENTIALS. 

UK(jANUA I ION. 

Soutli Carolina. ..F. W. Dawson, T. G. Barker, S. Dibble. 

Tennessee Wm. H.Carroll, J. A. M'Kinney, T.M.Jones. 

Texas Thomas M. Jack, John Ireland, B. II. Bassett. 

Vermont S. W. Reddington, G. G. Watterman, J. II. Williams. 

Virginia William Terry, James Barbour, William L. Royal. 

West Virginia ...B. F. Harlow, J. II. Good, W. L.Wilson. 

Wisconsin Earl P. Finch, Tims. R. Iludd, Joseph Rankin. 

The session of the first day was sober and re- 
flective, and withal every thing- presented a very 
worthy appearance. The hall, to the strangers, in 
its beautiful evergreen dress, was a revelation. The 
organ, with its six thousand or more pipes, pealed 
grandly as the convention assembled. Many dis- 
tinguished delegates were present. There was 
Hoadly, Vorhees, Barnum, Hampton, Fellows, and 
many others. There, too, was Boss Kelley, who 
split the New York Democratic party on Robinson for 
governor — John Kelley, the boss leader of Tammany 
Hall, who bolted from the State convention of New 
York, when Hubbard was the nominee, and after 
taking Tammany to one side, instructed it to nom- 
inate himself, which was done, to beat the party ; 
and here he was found for the similar purpose of 
kicking out Tilden. He comes without credentials, 
and with a threat seeks admission because he can 
control seventy-five thousand votes of Tammany 
with which to slaughter the party again, if Tilden 
should be nominated. When New York was reached, 
in the afternoon session, on preliminary business for 
committees, and upon the clerk's commencing to 
announce the names sent up to the desk, John Kel- 
ley arose, amid a shower of hisses, mingled with 
yells and cries to sit down. The chair did not rec- 



THE CANDIDATES. 369 

ognize him in the capacity of a delegate, and not 
receiving the recognition due his rank took a back 
seat. Wade Hampton, from South Carolina, notice- 
able as a fine looking and a genteel man, with a 
face a little reddened with good living, was present. 
His record as a good, easy, perspicuous speaker, 
as well as his military one, is well known through- 
out the country. 

After the first day's proceedings, the delegates 
repaired to their head-quarters, at the various hotels, 
for consultation, in which most of the inside work of 
the convention was done. 

The probable candidates, at the time, were : S. 
J. Tilden, of New York ; Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio; 
Horatio Seymour, of New York ; Thomas A. Hen- 
dricks, of Indiana ; Thomas F. Bayard, of Delaware; 
George H. Pendleton, of Ohio; W. H. English, of 
Indiana; C. E. Pratt, of New York; S. J. Field, 
of California; H. B. Payne, of Ohio; Frank H. 
Hurd, of Ohio; W. S. Hancock, of Pennsylvania; 
Lyman Trumbull, of Illinois; Hugh J. Jewett, of 
New York; W. S. Groesbeck, of Ohio; Francis A. 
Kernan, of New York; Samuel J. Randall, of Penn- 
sylvania; W.R.Morrison, of Illinois; W. H. Barnum, 
of Connecticut; John M. Palmer, of Illinois; T. F. 
Randolph, of New Jersey. 

The different committees spent the afternoon 
and evening coming to agreements, examining 
credentials, making out platforms, reports, etc., 
while the work of canvassing was going on with 
the various delegations, each working for some one 

of the above-named candidates. We give below 

24 



370 NA 270X1 L DEMOCRA TTC CON I "SNTION. 

the electoral vote of each State and the number of 
delegates : 

ELECTORAL VOTES. NO. DELEGATES. 

Alabama 10 20 

Arkansas 6 12 

California 6 12 

Colorado 3 6 

Connecticut 6 12 

Delaware 3 6 

Florida 4 8 

Georgia 11 22 

Illinois 21 .. 42 

Indiana 15 30 

Iowa 11 22 

Kansas 5 10 

Kentucky 12 24 

Louisiana 8 16 

Maine 7 14 

Maryland 8 16 

Massachusetts 13 26 

Michigan 11 22 

Minnesota 5 10 

Mississippi 8 16 

Missouri. 15 30 

Nebraska 3 6 

Nevada 3 6 

New Hampshire 5 10 

New Jersey 9 18 

New York 35 70 

North Carolina 10 20 

Ohio 22 44 

Oregon 3 6 

Pennsylvania 29 58 

Rhode Island 4 8 

South Carolina 7 14 

Tennessee 12 24 

Texas 8 16 

Vermont 5 10 

Virginia 11 22 

West Virginia 5 10 

Wisconsin 10 20 

3 6 9 73 8 

[The District of Columbia sent two delegates to the convention 
but they had no votes.] 



THE DELEGA TES. 371 

The names of the great men of the Democratic 
party who were at this convention and held seats as 
delegates are given as follows : 

Alabama — Hon. C. C. Langdon, Hon. E. W. 
Pettus, Hon. M. A. Keeler, W. H. Barnes, W. E. 
Clark, C. L. Scott, H. C. Semple, A. A. Wiley, S. 
S. Scott, L. W. M'Laughlin, J. F. Johnson, Thomas 
Seay, R. H. Abercrombrie, H. J. Callens, T. C. 
Clarke, H. M. Caldwell, L. H. Box, J. H. Disque, 
A. S. Fletcher, S. Blackwell. 

Arkansas — John Parham, H. King White, Dr. 
John P. Mitchell, B. R. Davidson, J. P. Coffin, 
T. E. Stanley, C. A. Gault, J. M. Hudson, Ben. T. 
Emboy, B. B. Beavers, G. B. Greenlaw, R. B. Poe. 

California — S. M. Taylor, M. C. Healy, William 
Matthews, A. P. Frost, J. B. Metcalf, Hon. J. E. 
M'Elrath, G. H. Castle, A. W. Stevenson, Wil- 
liam C. Hendricks, Hon. C. H. Maddox, Jesse D. 
Carr. 

Colorado — Hon.W. A. Loveland, C. Barella, B. 
F. Humpheys, Hon. C. S. Thomas, General Sam- 
uel E. Brown, Hon. L. R. Rhodes, Alva Adams. 

Connecticut — William H. Barnum, Hon. David 
A. Wells, W. E. Parsons, Alfred E. Burr, Jeffrey 
O. Phelps, Jabez L. White, Samuel Simpson, Curtis 
Bacon, Ralph Wheeler, T. W. Greenslit, Jonathan 
Wheeler, Henry B. Graves. 

Dakota Territory — Robert D. Kelley, Charles 
K. Howard. 

Delaware — George Gray, George H. Bates, 
Gove Saulsbury, James Williams, E. L. Martin, A. 
P. Robinson. 



372 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

District of Columbia — William Dickson, A. A. 
Wilson. 

Florida — T. C. Lanier, W. C. Brown, C. C. 
Yonge, Sr., Dr. William Judge, E. M. L'Engle, P. 
P. Bishop, C. E. Dyke, J. B. Marshall. 

Georgia — A. R. Lawton, George T. Barnes, 
Evan P. Howell, P. M. B. Young, W. A. Wilkins, 
J. M. Couper, J. R. Alexander, B. E. Russell, L. 
M. Felton, D. M. Roberts, T. W. Grimes, P. H. 
Brewster, C. C. Duncan, John D. Stewart, James 
G. Ockington, Augustus C. M'Calla, J. C. Fain, A. 
H. Gray, D. M. DuBose, Patrick Walsh, W. P. Price, 
Tyler M. Peeples. 

Illinois — Melville W. Fuller, General John A. 
M'Clernand, Samuel S. Marshall, W. J. Dowdall, 
Henry F. Sheridan, John R. Hoxie, Carter H. Har- 
rison, Patrick Howard, Perry H. Smith, Franklin 
L. Chase, A. M. Herrington, Joseph Glidden, J. M. 
Potter, J. M. Stowell, Charles Dunham, Henry F. 
Buford, William Reddick, Andrew Welsh, George 
C. Harrington, George V. Huling, L. W. Ross, LAV. 
James, J. A. Stewart, S P. Montgomery, Walter E. 
Carlin, Scott Wike, H. M. Vandeveer, William H. 
Barnes, Luther Dearborn, William F. Howard, Will- 
iam A. Day, James W. Craig, William M. Garrard, S. 
L. Whitehead, Jacob Fouck, W. S. Fordman, George 
A. Bayle, Seymour F.Wilcox, William H. Green, Will- 
iam K. Murphy, J. M. Crebs, J. B. Hablit. 

Indiana— Hon. J. E. M'Donald, Hon. Daniel W. 
Vorhees, Judge W. E. Niblack, James S. Slack, W. 
G. Kidd, John Nestor, W. A. Taylor, A. J. Hostet- 
ter, John H. Stotsenberg, James A. Cravens, John 



THE DELEGATES. 373 

R. Cravens, J. H. Burkam, D. G. Vawter, Eb. Hen- 
derson, William Thistlewaite, Milton James, Oscar 
B. Hord.W. Scott Ray, G. A. Knight, William Mack, 
John R. Coffroth, Theo. Davis, Rufus Magee, D. F. 
Skinner, David Studabaker, Charles H. Brownell, 
Allen Zollars, 0. D. Willett, Edward Hawkins, A. 
F. Wilden. 

Iowa — T.J. Potter, John P. Irish, John F. Bates, 
Jacob C. Morgan, James Hagerman, George D. Rod- 
man, J.J. Richardson, G. L. Johnston, Captain D. S. 
Malone, C. M. Durham, Martin Blimm, John Foley, 
J. J. Snouffer, C. S. Lake, S. B. Evans, C. H. Mackey, 
George Gardner, J. S. Pruneck, Robert B. Percival, 
J. Anderson, T. L. Bowman, E. D. Fenn. 

Kansas— C. M. Blair, R. B. Morris, Ed. Carroll, J. 
B. Chapman, John R. Goodit, Thos. L. Carroll, W. V. 
Bennett, John Martin, Thos. George, Geo. Craggers. 

Kentucky — Hon. Henry Waterson, Governor 
John Stevenson, General Preston, Judge Wm. Lind- 
say, C. T. Allen, J. W. Fisher, H. D. M'Henry, C. 
A. Board, C. M. Thomas, W. L. Porter, J. W. 
Hays, J. P. Thompson, Dr. W. Walling, Hon. Boyd 
Winchester, R. W. Nelson, T. J. Megibben, W. C. 
P. Breckenridge, C. M. Harwood, R. G. Logan, 
Nat. Walton, S. M. Burdett, J. R. Garrett, G. S. 
Wall, W. C. Ireland. 

Louisiana — Ex-Governor John M'Enery, Hon. 
Patrick Mealy, Hon. Wm. A. Strong, Hon. Charles 
Parlange, John Fitzpatrick, James D. Houston, E. 
A. Burke, I. W. Patton, J. L. Brent, John Clegg, 
James Jeffries, S. M. Morrison, G. C. Goldman, G. 
W. M'Crainie, M. D. Kavanagh, Wm. Duncan. 



374 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

Maine — Darius Alden, John B. Redman, Arthur 
Sewell, Bion Bradbury, Wm. G. Davis, Ephraim 
C. Spinney, S. Clifford Belcher, J. S. Lyford, Sim- 
eon S. Brown, Joseph E. Moore, Stephen Jen- 
nings, John B. Trafton, A. A. M'Nichols, J. F. 
Merrill. 

Maryland — Hon. William Pickney White, Hon. 
Philip F. Thomas, Hon. John Lee Carroll, Hon. 
Bernard P. Carter, Richard Hynson, E. E. Jackson, 
Charles B. Roberts, Wilmot Johnson, Geo. Colton, 
Hon. James Bond, John W. Davis, William Keyser, 
Barnes Compton, J. T. Bond, Hon. L. Victor Baugh- 
man, L. Carey Smith. 

Massachusetts — Josiah G. Abbott, P. A. Collins, 
George W. Gill, Reuben Noble, Nicholas Hathaway, 
Southard Potter, Edward Avery, Joseph T. Hartt, 
Michael Doherty, T. J. Leary, Frederick O. Prince, 
Charles Levi Woodbury, Charles G. Clarke, Samuel 
K. Hamilton, Charles P. Thompson, Eliphalet Grif- 
fin, Patrick Murphy, Henry Emery, Leverett Salton- 
stall, William E. Plummer, James E. Esterbrook, 
George F. Verry, Frank J. Pratt, Leander Sprague, 
J. W. Hall, E. L. Warren. 

Michigan — Hon. M. Dickinson, Hon. O. M. 
Barnes, Colonel I. E. Messmore, Foster Pratt, E. 
F. Conley, Mat Kramer, Seth Bean, Charles H. 
Richmond, L. D. Dibble, A. J. Browne, B. Frank- 
inburg, A. J. Shakespeare, Allen B. Morse, George 
C. Stewart, Byron G. Stout, Jerome W. Turner, J. 
M. Mellen, Austin M. Clark, R. F. Sprague, A. 
W. Comstock, John Powers, H. F. Alexander. 

Minnesota — P. H. Kelly, H. W. Lamberton, H. 



DELEGATES. 375 

R. Wells, J. J. Thornton, J. M. Archibald, L. L. 
Baxter, J. C. Pierce, R. A. Smith, L. A. Evans, 
W. W. M'Nair. 

Mississippi— E. C. Walthall, E. Barksdale, W. 
A. Percy, General W. S. Featherston, M. H. Tison, 
C. H. Bristow, John Y. Murray, R. H. Taylor, 
Robert C. Patty, S. M. Roane, S. S. Carter, R. L. 
Henderson, P. K. Myers, J. P. Withers, Warren 
Cowan, W. T. Martin. 

Missouri — William Hyde, George W. Vest, Silas 
Woodson, John O. Day, Given Campbell, Frank 
Harris, C. W. Francis, Joseph Pulitzer, Dan Kerwin, 
John Campbell, C. D. Yancey, J. P. Walker, J. W. 
Booth, L. B. Woodside, E. P. Lindsey, Hon. Chas. 
H. Morgan, W. D. Steele, John Cosgrove, M. Mum- 
ford, William Pratt, General James Craig, J. M. 
Riley, J. B. Naylor, B. F. Dillon, William S. Jack- 
son, J. B. Nesbit, Colonel W. B. M'Quoid, H. D. 
Marshall, N. C. Dryden, James B. Wood. 

Montana — Martin Magginnus, Alexander M. 
Wodfolk. 

Nebraska — J. Sterling Morton, James E. North, 
John W. Pollock, R. S. Moloney, Sr., F. A. Har- 
mon, George L. Miller. 

Nevada — Matt. Canavan, E. B. Stonehill, A. C. 
Ellis, J. C. Hagerman, George T. Gorman, R. Sad- 
ler. 

New Jersey — Atty.-Gen. John P. Stockton, Col. 
C. Meyer Zulick, Orestes Cleveland, Hon. Heze- 
kiah B. Smith, Charles Ridgeway, Robert Newell, 
Hon. Rufus Blodgett, W. P. M'Michael, Robert S. 
Green, Joseph J. Thompson, Lewis Cochran, Hon. 



376 K 1 TIONAL DEMOCRA TIC CONVENTION. 

Alva A. Clark, Henry D. Winton, James S. Cole- 
man, Gottfried Kreuger, Lawrence T. Fell, Col. E. 
P. C. Lewis, Jeremiah Sweeney. 

New York — Lucius Robinson, Calvin E. Pratt, 
Rufus \V. Peckham, Lester B. Falkner, B. W. Down- 
ing, Alexander Moran, William D. Veeder, John J. 
Kiernan, William C. Kingsley, James F. Pierce, 
Archibald M. Bliss, John C. Jacobs, John Fox, 
Michael Norton, Peter Bowe, Charles Reilly, Ber- 
nard Kenney, J. T. Kelly, Timothy Shea, Edward 
Cooper, J. E. Devlin, John R. Fellows, A. H. 
Green, W. A. Butler, William C. Whitney, Peter 

B. Olney, William Caldwell, H. C. Nelson, J. D. 
Little, Ambrose Wagner, William M. Murray, G. 
M. Beebe, M. B. Mattice, A. Schoonmaker, Daniel 
Manning, M. N. Nolan, E. Murphy, Jr., Charles 
Hughes, S. M. Weede, Stephen Brown, W. H. Saw- 
yer, W. P. Cantwell, Stephen Dunn, J. D. Campbell, 
S. A. Bowen, Elliott Danforth, Dennis O'Brien, G. 
W. Smith, J. T. Spriggs, Albert N. Bart, W. A. 
Poucher, L. P. Clark, J. W. Yale, O. U. Kellogg, 
W. J. Moses, J. T. Rich, Frank Rice, O. G. Sher- 
man, G. C. Walker, S. D. Halliday, F. G. Babcock, 
R. H. Gwinip, George Raines, Frederick Cook,W. 
S. Wright, O. W. Cutler, Daniel N. Lockwood, J. 
M. Wiley, William A. Lester, W. W. Henry. 

New York Contestants — Amasa J. Parker, 
William Dorsheimer, Jeremiah M'Guire, George 

C. Greene, E. A. Lawrence, John R. Reed, D. 
O'Reilly, J. J. Sheridan, A. Barrett, A. Van Wyck, 
J. W. Flaherty, John C. Kelly, P. G. Duffy, T. F. 
Grady, A. Schell, J. H. M'Carthy, John Kelly, O. 



DELEGATES. 377 

B. Potter, J. J. Gorman, S. P. Nichols, J. B. Has- 
kin, H. B. Perkins, F. B. Spinola, A. Cardozo, J. R. 
Strahan, D. H. Purroy, D. C. Hickey, E. J. Ham- 
ilton, General J. A. Farrell, James R. Dickson, Al- 
bert Jourdan, F. L. Westbrook, P. Snyder, Erastus 
Corning, Robert H. Waterman, Adin Thayer, John 
H. Colby, William W. Hartwell, A. B. Waldo, John 
H. Mooney, John M'Encroe, Martin Schenck, Sam- 
uel North, Dr. A. W. Jaynes, A. D. Ripley, Peter 
Kirley, John Buckley, Patrick F. Bulgher, Delos D. 
Wolf, John B. Higgins, James S. Crouse, Hugh 
Duffy, John H. Atkinson, Roger Quinn, George 
Wagner, William W. Wright, J. Stewart Wells, Geo. 
J. Magee, R. S. Armstrong, Charles C. B. Walker, 
Charles D. Ross, Dennis Leary, S. T. Murray, 
Ransom M. Skeels, Patrick Short, John Walls, Will- 
iam J. Weeks, C. C. Parker. 

North Carolina — W. P. Dortch, Thos. Ruffin, 
A. M. Waddell, J. S. Henderson, T. G. Skinner, 
George H. Brown, Jr., George Howard, J. A. Bonitz, 

C. M. Stedman, J. A. Rowland, A. W. Graham, B. 
H. Bunn, John A. Staples, J. A. Long, P. B. Means, 
R. L. Steele, Charles Price, G. M. Mathes, R. M. 
Furman, S. M'D. Tate. 

Ohio — Durbin Ward, J. H. Wade, General 
James B. Steedman, Judge M'Sweeny, George B. 
Hoadly, Julius Reis, Alexander Long, Charles W. 
Baker, M. H. Davis, James E. Neal, J. V. Campbell, 
William S. Alexander, W. D. Hill, Charles Boesel, 
E. D. Potter, John W. Nelson, W. W. Ellsberry, 
L. T. Neal, S. J. Packer, W. H. Dugdale, F. B. 
Mariott, John D. Thompson, Wm. E. Haynes, Geo. 



378 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

W. Roberts, Joseph P. Aleshire, Jas. W. Newman, 
John G. Thompson, Charles D. Martin, John O. Neil, 
J. H. Barrett, T. J. Kinney, Shannon Clements, 
Henry Bohl, John Schreine, Daniel M'Conville, C. 
C. Lewis, R. S. Shields, C. N. Schmick, David R. 
Paige, N. L. Johnson, R. K. Paige, D. C. Coleman, 
W. W. Armstrong, John H. Farley. 

Oregon — W. H. Effinger, John Myers, J. W. 
Windom, J. J. Williams, A. A. Fink, Charles 
Nickell. 

Pennsylvania — Lewis E. Cassidy, R. M. Speare, 
Wm. L. Scott, Win. S. Stegner, George M'Gowan, 
Dallas Sanders, Robert P. Deckert, John R. Reed, 
Thomas J. Barger, Wm. M'Mullin, Sam. Josephs, 
Harry S. Donahue, Ed. H. Flood, Fred. Gerkes, J. 
L. Forward, John B. Baker, Herman Yerkes, J. 
Wright Apple, Dan. Ermentrout, Thos. D. Fister, 
W. U. Hensel, B. J. M'Grann, Wm. H. Sowden, 
Henry W. Scott, David Lowenberg, Chas. B. Sta- 
ples, R. Bruce Rickets, F. J. Fitzsimmons, James B. 
Reilly, James Ellis, B. F. Myers, Grant Weidman, 
Robt. A. Packer, L. Grampf, John J. Metzgar, 
Henry Sherwood, Aug. S. Landis, Wm. J. Baer, C. 
M. Duncan, D. M. Crawford, Chauncey B. Black, 
Wm. M' Sherry, Edward A. Bigler, J. A. Casanova, 
Edgar Cowan, Charles E. Boyle, Dr. E. A. Wood, 
John R. Larkin, C. F. M'Kenna, Malcolm Hay, 
George W. Miller, Wm. Gordon, J. B. Knox, Geo. 
A. Jenks, I. B. Brawley, L. M'Quiston, George A. 
Allen, 'H. B. Plummer. 

Rhode Island — Abner J. Barnaby, Charles H. 
Page, Wm. F. Teston, Nicholas Van Slyck, John J. 



DELEGATES. 379 

Dempsy, Isaac Lawrence, Philip Duffy, Thomas 
W. Segar. 

South Carolina — Hon. Wade Hampton, Gen- 
eral John Bratton, M. C. Butler, Major Theodore C. 
Barker, C. S. M'Call, J. H. Earle, F. W. Dawson, 
Samuel Dibble, John R. Abney, B. F. Whitner, F. 

A. Conner, W. C. Cleveland, T. G. Davis, Alfred 
Aldrich. 

Tennessee — Major Thomas O'Connor, Ex-Gov- 
ernor James D. Porter, John W. Childress, W. H. 
Carroll, Judge John A. M'Kinney, John Allison, Jr., 
Wm. L. W. Walker, Moses White, J. B. Cooke, S. 

B. Cunningham, R. L. C. White, John A. Fite, C. 
R. Butler, J. B. Lamb, John Overton, Nathan Bran- 
don, Thomas M. Jones, D. B. Cooper, S. A. Cham- 
pion, John M. Taylor, T. J. Edwards, S. Hill, J. M. 
Keating, Alfred M'Neal. 

Texas — Governor J. W. Throckmorton, Ex-Gov- 
ernor R. B. Hubbard, Thomas M. Jack, John Ire- 
land, E. G. Bowen, W. S. Herndon, J. H. Jones, 
G. B. Libscomb, J. Q. Chenoworth, B. B. Paddock, 
T. E. Shirley, E. L. Shnopshire, I. E. M'Comb, 
Hon. John Hancock, Hon. J. H. Bassett, Hon. F. 
S. Stockdale, Hon. Joseph E. Dwyer. 

Vermont — Lucius Robinson, L. W. Reddington, 
B. B. Smalley, James H. Williams, Benjamin B. 
White, Milo Huling, Don. C. Pallard, Nathan P. 
Bowman, F. W. M'Gettrick, George L. Waterman. 

Virginia — Gen. William Terry, John W. Daniel, 
James Barbour, Dr. S. H. Moffett, A. W. Wallace, 1 
John W. Gillette, James F. Crocker, Thomas Tabb, 
William L. Royall, Judge E. C. Minor, Charles E. 



3 SO NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

Stringfellow, William E. Green , J.W. B. Hall, T. J. 
Talbot, W. P. Johnston, Thomas S. Bocock, James 
Bumgardner, W. B. Pettit, R. W. Hunter, Captain 
Alexander Payne, Daniel Trigg, James D. Johnston. 

West Virginia — Hon. H. G. Davis, Robert 
M'Eldowney, B. F. Harlon, J. H. Good, W. P. 
Thompson, William S. Wilson, James Marrow, Jr. 
P. H. Snyder, Henry C. Sims. 

Wisconsin — Colonel William F. Vilas, Thomas 
R. Hudd, Judge George W. Cate, James G. Jenkins, 
Anson Rogers, H. M. Ackley, J. C. Gregory, J. S. 
Tripp, George Krouskopf, J. M. Smith, Adolph Zim- 
merman, Ed. Keogh, Joseph Rankin, William Elwell, 
E. P. Finch, N. Mashek, Dr. W. T. Galloway, G. M. 
Woodward, John Ringle, T. J. Cunningham. 



THE SECOND DAY. C81 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE SECOND DA Y' S CONTEST. 

OPENING EXERCISES OF THE CONVENTION — THE SOLDIERS REMEM- 
BERED — THE BATTLE ON CREDENTIALS — REPORT ON PERMANENT 
ORGANIZATIONS — WHAT AN EYE-WITNESS SAYS — THREE MINUTES' 
SPEECH BY GENERAL YOUNG, — SENATOR STEVENSON— THE NOMINA- 
TIONS — GENERAL HANCOCK'S NOMINATION — THE VOTES TAKEN — 
CLOSING SCENES OF THE DAY. 

IT was eleven o'clock sharp before the delegates 
were called to order, Judge Hoadly in the chair. 

When the delegates had settled down in their 
seats, the chairman announced that they would rise 
for prayer, which was offered by Rev. Charles Tay- 
lor, of Covington. 

The day opened with the full Summer heat, with 
overcrowded galleries and stage, and with many 
other things that worry and make one sigh. The 
attendance, though large, was good humored, and 
the guests were annoyingly patriotic at times. The 
ladies were on hand in large numbers, and seemed 
to enjoy the contest with a relish. They them- 
selves were cool, but the conventionalities of many 
of the men were overlooked, and they were allowed 
to take off their coats, the great hall in which the 
convention was held being so crowded as to make 
it not only disagreeable, but suffocating. 

There was considerable skirmishing along the 
line at different times, but now and then all agree- 



3S2 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION. 

ino- harmoniously on some measures. As a recogni- 
tion of the soldier, a resolution, offered by Mr. Stot- 
zenburg, of Indiana, was read by the secretary, which 
was as follows : 

" Resolved, That the surviving soldiers of the war 
with Mexico, and the widows and orphan children 
of such of them as are deceased, are entitled to the 
grateful recognition of the people of the United 
States, and Congress ought to cause them to be 
placed on the pension rolls at the very earliest op- 
portunity, on the same footing with the soldiers of 
the war of 1812." 

A Voice — "Good!" and applause. 

The Chair — " Under the rule this resolution goes 
to the Committee on Resolutions without debate. 
The first business, according to the precedents of 
former conventions, now in order is the report of 
the Committee on Credentials. Is that committee 
prepared to report?" 

No response from that committee being heard, 
the chair said : 

The Chair — " The chair is in possession of a tel- 
egram, which the secretary will read." 

The secretary read the following : 

"June 22, 1880. 
" Chairman of the Democratic Convention: 

"Material ready for the bonfire. Three cheers 
for the Democratic nominee. 

"Reynolds, Bayson, N. Y." 

Cheers and applause. 

The only battle of the day was on the report of 
the Committee on Credentials. It was anticipated 



TAMMANY. 383 

that Tammany would be kept out of the conven- 
tion. It was not the wish of the convention to give 
him a seat, and hence the formal proceedings to 
accomplish the exclusion of that representation. 

The Committee on Permanent Organization re- 
ported Hon. J. W. Stevenson, of Kentucky, Chair- 
man of the Convention, also a list of names for vice- 
presidents and secretaries, which report was adopted. 

The Committee on Credentials followed with a 
report. 

General Young — " Mr. President, I am directed 
by the Committee on Credentials to submit the 
following report, which I ask to be read at the 
clerk's desk." 

The Chair — "It shall be so done. The conven- 
tion will listen to the report of the Committee on 
Credentials." 

The secretary read as follows : 

" To the Chairman and Delegates of the Democratic National Con- 
vention : 

"Your Committee on Credentials beg leave to 
submit the following report: 

"Massachussetts — Two delegations are present 
from the State of Massachusetts ; the one known as 
the Faneuil Hall delegation, the other as Mechan- 
ics' Hall delegation. By joint request made by the 
delegations to the Committee on Credentials, we 
unanimously recommend that both delegations be 
admitted to seats in the convention, the united del- 
egation to cast the vote to which the State is enti- 
tled. [Applause.] 

li Pe?i7tsylvania — In the case of the contesting 



o 8 i Nj 1 TIONA L DEMOCRA TIC COXVESTIOX. 

delegations from the twenty-sixth Congressional 
district of Pennsylvania, we report that the sitting 
delegates are entitled to retain their seats as mem- 
bers of the convention. [Applause.] 

"New York — Your committee has carefully ex- 
amined all the evidence brought before it bearing 
upon the contested case from the State of New 
York. It carefully and patiently considered all the 
facts in the contest, and weighed the evidence pre- 
sented by both sides, and, by a singular unanimity, 
voted to allow the sitting members to retain their 
seats. [Applause.] 

" With the above exceptions there are no con- 
tests before the committee, and we herewith ap- 
pend the list of delegates duly entitled to seats 
upon this floor. 

"Respectfully submitted, 

"V. M. B. Young, 
"Chairman Committee on Credentials. 
"A. Norton, Secretary. 

"John K. Tarbox, Assistant Secretary." 

Gcncj'-al Yozmg — "I will allow one moment for 
the views of the minority. I have to say they are 
a very small minority." 

Mr. Cai'roll, of Kansas — "Mr. Chairman, I de- 
sire to present a minority report." 

The Chair — " The delegate, Mr. Carroll, submits 
a minority report. Will it be read?" 

Mr. Cai'roll — " Will you permit me to take the 
stand ? " 

[Several voices: "Let the clerk read it." 

The Chair — " If you desire to read it, read it." 



COMMITTEE ON CREDENTIALS. 385 

Mr. Young, of Geoi'gia — " I ask that the gen- 
tleman read it himself. I prefer that the gen- 
tleman from Kansas be allowed to read his own 

report." 

The Chair "The gentleman from Kansas shall 

have his own way about it. [Laughter.] The 
convention will now listen to the report of the 
minority of the Committee on Credentials." 

Mr. Carroll then took the platform, and read as 
follows : 
"To the Democratic National Convention : 

"The undersigned members of the Committee 
on Credentials respectfully report: 

"That after hearing the contesting delegations 
from the State of New York, we find that the State 
is divided into two factions, each having all the ma- 
chinery of a perfect — " 

[The reading of the report was here interrupted 
by cries of "Louder," hisses and yells.] 

The Chair—" If spectators will be quiet the del- 
egate from Kansas can be heard by every member 
of this convention. He is entitled to courtesy, and 
I insist upon it and shall enforce it." [Applause 
and cheers.] 

Mr. Carroll [Continuing to read]— " We find 
that the State is divided into two factions, each 
having all the machinery of a perfect party organi- 
zation, and each assuming to regularly represent a 
large body of the Democratic voters of that State ; 
that each of said party divisions has held State con- 
ventions under the regular calls, and duly elected 
delegates to represent the State of New York in 



386 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

this convention; that the attitude of these factions 
is precisely analogous to that of the Democracy in 
that State in 1S56; that to unite the party at that 
time the National Convention divided the delega- 
tions, allowing each to cast one-half the votes to 
which that State was entitled in that convention; 
that such action united the party in the State of 
New York, and eventuated in the election of a 
Democratic President. [Applause.] 

"We believe a similar course at this time will 
result in kindred success, and we therefore recom- 
mend the adoption of the following resolution : 

"Resolved, That the Faulkner branch of the 
Democratic delegation from the State of New York 
be allowed to cast fifty votes in this convention, and 
and that the Shakspeare Hall Democracy be allowed 
to cast twenty votes in such division [hisses], and 
that each of the said divisions shall determine its 
method of casting such votes. 

"All of which is respectfully submitted. 

[Signed] Mr. Carroll, of New Jersey; 
Mr. Merrilla, of Colorado; 
Mr. Hudson, of Arkansas." 

The Chair — " Gentlemen of the convention, you 
•have heard the majority and minority reports from 
the Committee on Credentials. What action is it 
your pleasure to take ? " 

Mr. Young, of Georgia — "The Committee on 
Credentials has spent the whole night in the inves- 
tigation of the case of the State of New York. To 
that committee has been assigned the work ; and it 
has accomplished it, and we think well accomplished 



ANTI- TAMMANY. 387 

it. [Applause.] I am directed by the committee 
to demand the previous question on the report of 
the committee." [Applause and cries of " Good."] 

Mr. Compton — " I second the motion." 

The Chair — " The previous question is de- 
manded upon the report of the committee." 

Mr. Young — " I am informed that under the 
rules of the House of Representatives — " 

The Chair — " You are out of order. The pre- 
vious question has been demanded and stated by 
the chair." 

Mr. Young — " Mr. Chairman — " 

The Chair — "You are out of order, sir, and 
can 't be listened to.'' [Laughter.] 

Mr. Young — "I withdraw the demand for the. 
previous question." 

Mr. Smalley, of Vermont — "The demand for the 
previous question has been demanded and seconded, 
and he has no right to withdraw it." 

The Chair — " The gentleman from Vermont is 
right. The question is, those who are in favor of 
the previous question will say ' aye.' Those op- 
posed, 'no.' The secretary will call the roll of the 
convention. Those voting in the affirmative are 
voting in favor of the previous question. All 
who desire to continue the debate will vote in the 
negative." 

The clerk called the roll, with the following re- 
sult : Total number of votes cast, 655; yeas, 360; 
nays, 295. 

An eye witness says : 

" Mr. Young was a delegate from Georgia, a 



388 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

o-allant soldier, and had served a term in Congress. 
He has a strikingly handsome face, magnificent 
physical proportions, a jet black eye, black hair, 
with a complexion given to swarthiness. He is tall, 
manly, and courtly. His voice is sonorous, well 
under control, and pitched in rather high inflections." 
This report had in it but one bone of controversy, 
which met the antagonism of a minority report. 
This minority recommended that twenty of the 
Tammany delegation be given seats, and the re- 
maining fifty be held by the anti-Tammany wing. It 
was clear, when both reports were read, that the 
sympathy of neither the delegates nor the spectators 
was with Tammany's claims. The majority report 
ignored John Kelley and his followers altogether. 
Immediately after the reading of the report, chair- 
man Young moved the previous question, upon or- 
dering the main question. Then Carroll, of Kansas, 
offered the views of the minority. Cries came up 
from all quarters of the hall, "Platform," "Plat- 
form." Whereupon delegate Carroll mounted the 
rostrum, and allowed himself to be looked upon as 
the person who championed Kelley and his so-called 
grievance. Carroll himself read the views of the 
minority. The contrast between the shapely form 
of the chairman, who had presented the majority 
views, and he who pleaded for the minority, was so 
marked that the spectators became restive, and were 
glad when he was through. Carroll looked like a 
pigmy behind the speaker's chair, and his lungs were 
too weak to do justice to the bantling he championed. 
He could not make himself heard. After he had 



JOHN KELLEY. 389 

shambled off the platform, a vote was taken by a call 
of the States, on Young's motion to order the main 
question. The convention said " Yes," by a vote 
of three hundred and sixty yeas to two hundred 
and ninety-five nays. New York, with becoming 
modesty, declined to vote, and was excused. The 
adoption of this motion left but one hour for debate, 
of which two-thirds were graciously accorded to the 
minority, and one-third to the majority. 

This preliminary being settled, there were cries 
from all sections for Kelley. His name was greeted 
with applause and hisses, apparently equally divided. 
Speeches were made both for and against Tammany, 
with its seventy thousand votes. Those in favor of 
seating the delegation thought that something ought 
to be done that would conciliate the old gentleman 
and his delegation. Those opposing the admittance 
indorsed Mr. Young's views, expressed in his three 
minutes' speech, which we give below : 

" Gentlemen of the Convention: It was because 
the committee do not desire to take the time of this 
convention that it directed me to demand the pre- 
vious question. Two hours was the time allotted 
by this house — three-fourths of which has been given 
to the contestants. This cause was referred to the 
Committee on Credentials. That committee spent 
the whole of last night upon this question, without 
a feeling between these two factions. That com- 
mittee has adjudicated this case as if every member 
had been upon his oath. That committee find the 
great State of New York here with but one delega- 
tion with accredited certificates. [Applause.] That 



390 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

committee find seventy gentlemen here who are 
all good and honorable men, who have come here 
to this convention, and they told us — first, if we 
nominated Samuel J. Tilden [applause] they would 
bolt the ticket. [Hisses.] Samuel J. Tilden is not 
before this convention. I, for one, would to God 
that he was. [Loud applause.] 

"They are seventy honorable and good men 
from New York, and I would that we might invite 
them here, but there are only seventy seats for 
gentlemen that come with accredited papers from 
that State. [Applause.] 

" On a certain day a call was issued in that State, 
which I will ask the clerk to read." 

The Clerk (reading) — "The Democratic electors 
of the State, and all others who intend to support 
the nominees of the National Democratic Conven- 
tion, are invited to send three delegates from each 
Assembly District to the State Convention, to be 
held at Syracuse, on the ioth of September, 1879." 

Mr. Yotmg — "Every member of the Democratic 
party of the State of New York was invited to that 
convention, but these gentlemen did not come. That 
is the point in this case. I now leave the question, 
without fear, to the convention, and demand a vote." 

Mr. Cosgrove, of Missotiri — "Will the gentle- 
man allow me to ask a question ? Did Mr. Kelley 
say he would not vote for the nominee of this con- 
vention?" 

Mr. Young — " He said that he would not support 
Tiden if he was- nominated." 

The Chair — " The debate is now closed. Before 



MINORITY REPORT. 391 

the previous question was demanded, the majority re- 
port was read and proposed, and the minority report 
was read and proposed, and in my judgment, the 
question now first to be taken is, whether the minor- 
ity report shall be substituted for so much of the ma- 
jority report as it covers. Upon the question the 
roll will be called. I have been requested to restate 
the question in its present form. If I can have the 
attention of the convention for a moment I will re- 
state the precise position of the question. The first 
motion was to adopt the majority report. The sec- 
ond was to amend by substituting the minority re- 
port. Those who wish to substitute the minority 
report will now vote aye, and those who wish to 
adhere to the majority report will vote no." 

The clerk then called the roll of the States. 

When Arkansas was reached, Mr. J. P. Mitchell, 
of that State, said: "I desire to make an explana. 
tion of the vote. I will send it up to the secretary." 

The Secretary (reading) — "The Arkansas delega- 
tion are instructed by our State Convention to vote 
as a unit, and the majority of our delegates favor 
the minority report : and, while we have no disposi- 
tion to violate our instructions, we ask that the rec- 
ords of the convention show that we personally favor 
the majority report. B. R. Davidson, 

J. P. Mitchell." 

When Indiana was called, the chairman of the 
delegation stated that she voted as a unit, under in- 
structions. 

When Michigan was called, the chairman of the 



392 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

delegation stated that Michigan voted as a unit, 
under instructions. 

When New York was called, Mr. Manning, of 
that State, asked that his State be passed. When 
she was a^ain called at the end of the roll, Mr. 
Manning said : 

" Mr. Chairman, New York again requests to be 
excused from voting." 

[Cries of "No," "No."] 

The Chair — " New York asks to be excused from 
voting. Shall they have consent ? [A pause.] New 
York is excused. The secretary will declare the 
result." 

The clerk announced the result of the call of 
the roll as follows : Total number of votes cast, 
662^ ; yeas, 205^ ; nays, 457. 

The Chair — " The amendment is lost. The ques- 
tion now recurs upon the adoption of the majority 
report. The convention is ready for the question. 
Is the call of the roll demanded ?" 

["No!" "No!"] 

The chair, having put the question, declared the 
majority report, in all its parts, adopted. 

Mr. Wilson, of West Virginia — "As a member 
of the Committee on Credentials, and one of the 
majority of that committee, I think it fair to offer 
the following resolution : 

" ' Resolved, That the delegation from the State 
of New York, of which Amasa J. Parker is the chair- 
man, be invited to seats upon the floor of this con- 
vention, during its session.' " 

General Young, of Georgia — " This same reso- 



SENATOR STEVENSON. 393 

lution was before the committee, and voted down ; 
but I believe the committee now would vote for the 
resolution." 

The resolution was adopted. 

Mr. Martin, of Delaware — "I now renew my 
motion to adopt the report of the Committee on 
Permanent Organization." 

The Chair — "The question now before the con- 
vention is, the motion of the delegate from Delaware, 
Mr. Martin, to adopt the report and resolution from 
the Committee on Permanent Organization. " 

The motion was carried. 

The Chair — "The chair will designate as a com- 
mittee to escort the permanent president to his seat, 
the following gentlemen: Senator Joseph E. M'Don- 
ald, of Indiana ; Senator M. C. Butler, of South 
Carolina; and Major Thomas O'Connor, of Ten- 
nessee. The committee will perform their duty at 
once." 

The gentlemen named ascended the platform, 
and presented to the chairman the Hon. John W. 
Stevenson, permanent president of the convention. 

The Chair — " I have the honor to present to the 
convention its elected president, and to commit to 
his hands this symbol of its government, and into 
hands more worthy such symbol could not be given." 

The chairman here handed the gavel to the pres- 
ident. 

The appearance of Senator Stevenson on the 
platform was the signal for an ovation, and for five 
minutes the distinguished Kentuckian was compli- 
mented with cheers which made the welkin ring. 



394 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

His speech of acceptance to the convention was in 
good taste, delivered in a fair style (heard by the 
delegates, if not by the galleries), and well suited, 
as to its length, for a go-between on a hot day. 

After Mr. Stevenson finished his speech, he 
asked what was the pleasure of the convention. 
This query immediately threw the galleries into ex- 
citement, and every one was on the tip-toe of expect- 
ancy ; and when Mr. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, 
sprang to his feet, and made a motion that the con- 
vention proceed to place in nomination candidates 
for President and Vice-president, the galleries shouted 
forth a decided applause. 

At a quarter past two, nominations began. 
"Alabama," cried the clerk; and immediately word 
came back from the chairman of that delegation that 
Alabama had no candidate. Then came Arkansas, 
but she only echoed the Alabama response. When 
California was reached, the question was responded 
to with a decided yelp from that delegation, and 
Mr. Elrath took the platform, and nominated Justice 
Field, in a -speech replete with thought and good 
sense. 

When Delaware was called, a gentle ripple of 
applause began on the floor, was taken up by the 
galleries, then, being repeated from above and be- 
low, swelled in volume, until the boom for Bayard 
came to be about as big as the State itself. Mr. 
Gray, a handsome gentleman, of splendid physique 
and intellectual countenance, the striking features of 
which were his keen eyes and broad, high forehead, 
mounted the platform, and. made a stirring speech 



THE NOMINA TIONS. 39V 

in behalf of their little State, whose idol was Thos. 
Francis Bayard. 

The Sucker delegation was represented on the 
platform by the Hon. Samuel S Marshall, who pro- 
ceeded to nominate Hon. W. R. Morrisson, after 
which he was applauded by the gallery. 

The Hoosier State, upon being called, Hon. 
Daniel W. Voorhees, the Tall Sycamore, took the 
stand, and placed the favorite son of Indiana", 
Thomas Hendricks, in nomination. His remarks 
were full of patriotic fervor for their chieftain. His 
well-timed speech was received in thunders of ap- 
plause. 

A rousing speech was next made by Hon. John 
M'Svveeney, who was led to the platform amid 
cheers and plaudits from the .gallery. He nomi- 
nated Allen G. Thurman. His speech was re- 
ceived ever and anon with outbursts of applause, 
the audience even urging him to continue, when he 
made signs of stopping. It was replete with witti- 
cism, and well calculated to hold just such an audi- 
ence as a nervous convention spell-bound. 

When Pennsylvania was called, the chairman 
stated that, as a State, she had no candidate, but 
that a member of her delegation would present one 
on his own hook ; and upon this statement being 
made, Mr. Daniel Dougherty, of Philadelphia, the 
best looking man that had yet appeared, marched 
up the aisle, and amidst cheering from the Pennsyl- 
vanians, mounted the stand. He had spoken but a 
few sentences, when it was discovered that he was 
the orator of the day, and his presentation of Gen- 



60S NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

eral Hancock's name started the boom, and the 
convention took it up, when Hancock's name was 
mentioned, and went from the Pennsylvania delega- 
tion all over the floor, ran up the galleries, was 
received with flying handkerchiefs, and on it went, 
sweeping gallery and stage, rebounding, swept the 
floor ; and again and again it made its rounds, until 
it seemed the entire convention had gone wild. At 
the conclusion of the speech it broke out again, and 
the second time swept the house, while a banner 
bearing a portrait of the General, vigorously moved 
to and fro by a member of the Americus Club, in 
the rear of the stage, added to the effect, and was 
the signal for renewed and continued cheering. 

Mr. Daugherty said : 

" I propose to present to the thoughtful consid- 
eration of the convention the name of one who, on 
the field of battle was styled ' the superb ' [cheers], 
yet won the still nobler renown as a military gov- 
ernor, whose first act, when in command of Louisi- 
na and Texas, was to salute the Constitution by 
proclaiming that the military rule shall ever be sub- 
servient to the civil power. [Cheers.] The plighted 
word of a soldier was proved by the acts of a states- 
man. I nominate one whose name will suppress all 
factions [cheers.] ; will be alike acceptable to the 
North and to the South ; a name that will thrill the 
republic ; a name, if nominated, of a man that will 
crush the last embers of sectional strife, and whose 
name will be the dawning of that day so long looked 
for — the day of perpetual brotherhood among the 
people of America. With him as our champion, we 



THE NOMINATION OF HANCOCK. 399 

can fling away our scabbards, and wage an aggres- 
sive war. With him we can appeal to the supreme 
majesty of the American people against the corrup- 
tions of the Republican party and their untold vio- 
lations of constitutional liberty. With him as our 
standard-bearer, the bloody banner of Republicanism 
will fall palsied to the ground. Oh ! my countrymen, 
in this supreme hour, when the destinies of the re- 
public, when the imperiled liberties of the people, 
are in your hands, pause, reflect, take heed, make 
no misstep. I say I nominate one that will carry 
every State of the South. I nominate one who will 
carry Pennsylvania [loud cheers], carry Indiana 
[cheers], carry Connecticut [cheers], carry New 
Jersey [cheers], carry New York [loud cheers]. I 
propose the name [a voice, 'Carry Ohio?'], aye, 
and carry Ohio. [Cheers.] I propose the name of 
the soldier-statesman whose record is as stainless 
as his sword — Winfield Scott Hancock. [Loud 
cheers.] One word more — if nominated, he will 
take his seat." [Loud cheers.] 

After Mr. Dougherty left the platform, he turned 
and came back. " Allow me to say one word more," 
he said to the chair. Permission was accorded, when 
Mr. Dougherty corrected his speech as follows : 

" Gentlemen of the convention, I pray your par- 
don for one word. I said that 'if no7ni7iated.' I 
should have said if elected General Hancock will 
take his seat." [Cheers.] 

The Chair — "The name of Winfield Scott Han- 
cock is nominated for President of the United 
States." [Cheers.] 



400 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

When the State of Texas was called, the chair- 
man of that delegation said: "Texas has no name 
to present. One of the delegation desires to second 
the nomination of Winfield S. Hancock." 

The Chair — " The chair has the honor to present 
to the convention Governor Hubbard, of Texas." 

Governor Hubbard — "Gentlemen of the conven- 
tion, I have but a word to say. I rise by request — 
a request which meets the impulses of my own 
bosom, to second the nomination of the soldier- 
statesman, Winfield Scott Hancock. [Applause.] 
Men of the convention, it is peculiarly fit that Texas, 
that Louisiana, should respond to that nomination. 
Hear me for a moment. 

"When the war closed, when the flag that some 
of us followed was furled forever, when again the 
Constitution of the fathers was the supreme law of 
the land, as it is now and ever shall be [great ap- 
plause and cheers], there came down through the 
Southland, through my own State and Louisiana 
especially, a race of carpet-baggers like the Van- 
dals of old, preying - upon our wasted substance. 
Military governors filled the bastiles with prisoners 
from civic life ; men who had committed nought 
but fancied offenses against the Government were 
crowded into every jail and in every bastile, from 
the Rio Grande to the ' Father of Waters.' In that 
hour, when we had lost all, when by the side of 
every hearthstone were weeping Rachels, when the 
wolf was howling at almost every door, when there 
was widowhood and orphanage every-where, there 
came a voice in that darkness of the night time that 



THE TEXAN'S VOICE. 401 

said to us, ' I am your military ruler ; the war has 
closed ; unbar your dungeons, open your courts, and 
be tried as the Constitution prescribes. [Great ap- 
plause and cheers.] That man was Winfield S. 
Hancock. [Renewed applause.] It was an easy 
thing to be a Summer friend [laughter], but at the 
time of our sorrow, when he held his office at the 
hands of the great Republican party, who could cut 
off his head, and did remove him, there stood a man 
with the Constitution before him, reading it as the 
fathers read it; that the war having passed, we re- 
sume the habiliments that belonged to us — the 
rights, not as a conquered province, but as a free 
people. The voice of a man like Hancock, who risked 
his reputation and his place and power in the very 
frown and teeth of the Republican party, is a man 
that it will do to trust the standard of your party 
to. [Great applause and cheers.] 

" Sir, he is not only a soldier — that is something 
in the contest that is to be waged, as the gallant 
Hampton has told you. The South will be united 
whoever you may nominate. But failing in principle, 
failing upon every issue upon finance or of reform, 
or of good government, to attack the record of the 
Democratic party, mark it, the slogan will be ' The 
Bloody South ; the old haven of rebellion still lives.' 
You will hear it from the mountains and your high- 
lands ; you will hear it all along the lines. If you 
nominate Hancock [applause], if you nominate Han- 
cock, where is the argument ? We can say every- 
where, ' Here is a soldier, second not even to the 

silent man on horseback. [Applause.] Here is a 

26 



402 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

soldier that bore down even upon us like the brigade 
at Balaklava, like a plumed knight to the front ; 
here is a man whom 100,000 Northern soldiers, if 
they are like Southern soldiers, will rally round his 
standard because he was a great soldier, and a good 
man and a faithful citizen when the war was over.' 
[Applause.] 

" Gentlemen, I believe him to be to-day the 
most available candidate of all the great names that 
have been presented in this great presence. And, 
as I said a while ago, what we want is votes, more 
of them in God's name, whether they come from 
Republican soldiers or otherwise." [Applause and 
laughter.] 

The Chair — "The chair has the honor to present 
to the convention Hon. John W. Daniel, of Virginia." 

Mr. Daniel—' 1 Mr. President and brother Dem- 
ocrats of the National Convention, it is not the 
weakness, but it is the essential strength, of true 
Democracy that its constituents should possess 
varied and different opinions as to who is the man 
to receive public honors, to maintain correct princi- 
ples, and to execute the people's will. It is the 
glory of true Democracy that its constituents will 
renounce all personal opinions and preferences when 
the voice of a majority has pointed to the chosen 
servant of the people to execute the people's will. 

" We are here to-day embarrassed by the very 
brilliancy and variety of the names which have chal- 
lenged public favor for the first office in the people's 
gift. Jurists who have worn untarnished ermine ; 
statesmen who have molded the policy, shaped the 



WHAT VIRGINIA THINKS. 403 

measures, and fought the battles of the party; sol- 
diers who have enriched our history with feats of 
arms, and who are battle-scarred with wounds of 
honor; orators, scholars, thinkers, actors in every 
leading enterprise of a practical nature or intellect- 
ual endeavor, stand in glittering array around us, 
worthy to be crowned with any honor, or to be the 
recipient of any trust that this great republic can 
bestow. The question which I have asked myself, the 
question which, it seems to me, should be the index 
finger to guide our words to a wise conclusion, is 
this : Who is the man among them who can interlace 
together the heart-strings of this American people? 
[Cheers.] Who is that man who can make to per- 
meate through every portion of this mighty country 
those sentiments of mutual confidence and of broth- 
erly love which once abided among us before the 
schism of the secession war ? [A voice, ' Tilden ! ' 
When I have asked the question, the heart of every 
man gives me an answer that that man is Winfield 
Scott Hancock, of Pennsylvania. [Loud cheers.] 
Did I say of Pennsylvania ? Winfield Scott Han- 
cock, of the United States [cheers] ; of every State 
by his good right hand reunited. They tell us, 
gentlemen, that the country is tired of the rule of 
the camp and of the sword. They tell us that the 
people are weary of martial habits and of martial 
measures. I acknowledge that fact, but all the 
more will they welcome with gladsome greetings the 
man who first abolishes them. 

" Who is he, indeed? He is the man who abol- 
ished the rule of the camp in civil places. 



±04: NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

" All the more ready are we, therefore, to re- 
ceive into our hearts him who was the first to salute 
with his stainless sword the majesty of the civil law 
[cheers] ; who was the first to bow with knightly 
crest at the bar of civil justice; who was the first 
of all whose voice was heard crying aloud in the 
wilderness of despotism : ' Make the way straight 
lor the reign of peace, and for the sovereignty of 
the people.' [Cheers.] 

" Bethink you not, my friends, that the American 
people are so indiscriminating as to apprehend the 
embryo of a Brutus or the embryo of a Caesar in 
the man who was the Brutus of unhallowed arbitrary 
power. [Cheers.] 

" Those words came to this country like a sun- 
burst upon a wintery day. They were like the 
springing up of a fountain in a desert. They were 
like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. 
[Cheers.] And long after this great convention has 
passed away from earth the millions who are to 
come after us will be singing upon their tongues 
these words, which belong to Runnymede and to 
Magna Charta. The great principles of American 
liberty are still the lawful inheritance of this people. 
[Applause.] The trial by jury, the habeas corpus, 
the freedom of speech, the liberty of the press, the 
natural rights of persons and the rights of property 
must be preserved. [Applause.] 

"They tell us that we, the American people, do 
not want a soldier. The greatest and best, the 
magistrate without a peer, was who ? George 
Washington [cheers], whose life had been spent 



ONE WORD MORE. 405 

in the saddle, and whose history is made musical 
with the clinking of the spur. Madison and 
Monroe were soldiers. Jackson, and Harrison, 
and Taylor were soldiers. [Cheers.] Buchanan 
and Lincoln had both borne arms for the Re- 
public. All adovvn the line of your Presidents, for 
one hundred years, are the sparkling names of the 
American soldiers. 

" And why shall we not follow in the footsteps 
of our fathers, and present the greatest office 
which this Republic can bestow upon that great 
Democratic soldier who shed his blood for his 
people, yet who proved as generous to the con- 
quered as he was loyal to the conquering banner? 
[Cheers.] 

"Just one word more. The nomination of Gen- 
eral Hancock means instantaneous and continuous 
aggression. It will sound to America like a general 
order from this council of war: 'We move on the 
enemy's works to-morrow.' [Applause.] The signal 
gun sounds the advance. The bugles ring boots 
and saddles, the standard to the front. With the 
nomination of Hancock you will hear the tread of 
the moving legions. [Applause.] I am reminded 
here that the first man yesterday whose very pres- 
ence in this convention touched the heart and brought 
forth spontaneously its applause, was the soldier- 
statesman of South Carolina. [Applause.] Nom- 
inate Winfield Scott Hancock, and let the last cheer 
of this convention go up for the Union soldiers who 
have shown themselves so generous in welcoming 
us. [Applause.] Then, my friends, in this canvass 



406 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

you will hear the hearty hurrah of the boys who 
wore the blue mingling with the wild sweet music 
of the rebel cheer, in one grand national anthem. 
[Applause.] Then, my friends, the divided tribes, 
who, like the Romans of old, have come down from 
the mountain of secession, will roll in one mighty 
and undivided stream for the regeneration of this 
nation." [Applause.] 

After the roll of States was completed, the clerk 
reported the names of the gentlemen in nomination 
for President of the United States. 

Following- this reading was held an earnest de- 
bate on adjournment ; but the majority of the del- 
egates was desirous of feeling the pulse of the 
convention on the question of the candidacy for nom- 
ination, and, accordingly, a vote was taken, with the 
following result : The first ballot stood — Hancock, 
171; Thurman, 68*4; Hendricks, 49^; Morrison, 
62; Field, 65; Bayard, 153^; Tilden, 38; Ewing, 
10; Seymour, 8; Payne, 81; Randall, 6; Geo. B. 
M'Clellan, 3; M' Donald, 3; Jewett, 1 ; W. H. Love- 
land, 5 ; G. T. Lathrop, 1 ; Jere. S. Black, 1 ; English, 
1 ; Joel Parker, 1. 

The convention then adjourned, it being five 
minutes past six o'clock. 



THE CROWDED BALL. 407 



CHAPTER XXX. 

HANCOCK THE CHOICE OF THE CONVENTION. 

OPENING EXERCISES — ANOTHER CANDIDATE — THE BALLOT — THE HAN- 
COCK " ROOM "—DELEGATIONS FALLING INTO LINE — THE UPROARIOUS 
SESSION — SPEECHES — THE PLATFORM — NOMINATION OF ENGLISH. 

AT 10:30 A. M. the convention was called to 
order by Governor Stevenson, who occupied 
the chair. The session was opened with prayer by 
the Rev. Dr. Charles Taylor, of Covington, Ky, after 
which the restive delegates, so anxious to proceed, 
began work in earnest. 

The great Music Hall was black with people. Not 
a nook or space was left unoccupied. The stage 
was filled, the gallery was full, the young and the 
old were there, the grave and the gay, and the 
beauty of Cincinnati in particular had gone to lend 
the attraction of its presence to this the last grand 
act of the convention. 

Mr. Stevenson had just sounded his gavel, when 
Mr. Peckman, of New York, bounded to the floor to 
make a statement. 

He came upon the platform for the ostensible 
purpose of reading Samuel J. Tilden's letter of de- 
clination, but ended up with a nomination of Samuel 
J. Randall, Speaker of the House of Representa- 
tives. The speaker was greeted with loud applause 



408 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

from every. part of the house; but the convention 
refused to listen to the reading of the letter. 

When the second ballot was ordered, the galler- 
ies ran wild with excitement. The night previous 
had settled the nomination question, and it was but 
an easy matter to effect contagion among the spec- 
tators. The mention of Hancock's name was but a 
signal for tremendous applause. 

The clerk called the roll, which was as follows : 
Hancock, 294; Bayard, 108; Field, 65% ; Hendricks, 
31 ; Thurman, 47; Tilden, 6; Randall, 128^ ; En- 
glish, 19. 

The vote of Illinois was reached, the chairman 
cast its forty -two votes for Hancock, which was a 
signal for quite a scene. The galleries rose as one 
man, cheered and yelled until they got ready to 
stop, and thereafter Hancock seemed to be the fa- 
vorite, the votes for him eliciting the greatest ap- 
plause. 

After Illinois had voted, Kansas followed with 
her solid votes for Hancock, and again the galleries 
took possession of the convention in cheers and yells. 

Pennsylvania now changed its vote to twenty-five 
for Randall and thirty-two for Hancock, and the gal- 
leries responded with wholesome plaudits. 

The Badger gentleman, Mr. Jenkins, bounded to 
his feet, and with a yell requested permission to 
change the vote of Wisconsin. 

Cries of "Yes," "Yes." 

To this a delegate of Vermont objected, but the 
convention said, " Yes," and Mr. Jenkins had the 
pleasure of casting twenty votes for Hancock. 



THE PYRAMID OF BANNERS. 411 

The scene from this on among the delegates and 
in the galleries was that of bedlam. Men were wild 
with excitement ; hats were thrown high ; all was a 
babel of voices. Even the ladies on the stage seemed 
to have caught the inspiration, and became uproari- 
ous with applause. 

The confusion increased with each passing mo- 
ment. The chairman was powerless to control the 
convention, and the secretaries could neither hear 
nor record the ballots as they were changed. This 
was more noticeable when New Jersey and Pennsyl- 
vania desired to change their solid votes for Han- 
cock ; then was an eruption of carbonic acid gas that 
was fearful. A dozen delegates were trying to talk 
all at the same time ; thousands of handerchiefs were 
fluttering, and a yell sent up that was astonishing. 

When it had become apparent that Hancock 
would be nominated, the banners of the States were 
arranged in pyramids, and under them the dele- 
gates congregated, using their lungs to the best of 
their abilities in the meantime. The galleries went 
mad with excitement, and the general jubilee that 
followed is beyond description. 

It was evident the convention had found the 
right man. Its wisdom and popularity was recog- 
nized as if by instinct, and when the roll was called 
the second ballot stood thus : Hancock, 705 ; Bay- 
ard, 2 ; Tilden, 1. Whole number of votes cast, 
738 ; necessary to a choice, 492. 

From this time the convention dropped all dif- 
ferences, and there followed such a surfeit of oratory 
as is seldom given. 



412 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

Indiana being first to respond, promised the solid 
vote of that State. Then came Randall with an en- 
thusiastic speech, that was loudly applauded. 

Wade Hampton, of South Carolina, hobbled upon 
the platform, and in a neat little speech reminded 
the convention of the vast services Hancock ren- 
dered the South while acting as their military gover- 
nor, and promised the support of his State. 

During Wade Hampton's speech, John Kelley 
was seen by the galleries making his way down the 
aisle. The call for Kelley became unanimous from 
all quarters; pushing his way forward, he passed the 
speaker's stand, and bowed his acknowledgements 
to the distinguished audience, and delivered a fine 
speech, promising the solid vote of Tammany for 
Hancock. His declarations, fine oratory, with the 
hearty rounds of applause that followed each of his 
periods made, was the scene of the day. 

Following Tammany, was anti-Tammany — Mr. 
Fallows, of New York, with a good speech, well de- 
livered ; after which the two great leaders of the 
factional New York Democracy, shook hands, the 
band played — and the ugly chasm over Tildenism 
was bridged. 

At the conclusion of this jubilee, Miss Susan B. 
Anthony, representative of the women suffragists, 
presented a paper on " Woman's Rights," which 
was read by the clerk, but as no action by the con- 
vention was taken, the matter dropped. 

The platform was next taken up, and read by 
Mr. Watterson in a very distinct voice and impressive 
manner. This remarkable document is as follows : 



PLATFORM. 413 

The Democrats of the United States, in convention assembled, de- 

Cla T : We pledge ourselves anew to the constitutional doctrines and 
traditions of the Democratic party as illustrated by the teachings and 
example of a long line of Democratic statesmen and patriots, and em- 
bodied in the platform of the last National Convention of the party. 

2 Opposition to centralization and to that dangerous spirit of en- 
croachment which tends to consolidate the powers of all the depart- 
ments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government a 
real despotism; no sumptuary laws; separation of Church and State 
for the good of each ; common schools fostered and protected. 

, Home rule; honest money, consisting of gold and silver and 
paper convertible into coin on demand ; the strict maintenance of the 
public faith, State and National, and a tariff for revenue only 

4. The subordination of the military to the civil power, and a gen- 
uine and thorough reform of the civil service. 

5 The right to a free ballot is a right preservative of all rights, and 
must and shall be maintained in every part of the United States. 

6 The present administration is the representative of conspiracy 
only', and its claim of right to surround the ballot-boxes with troops 
and deputy-marshals, to intimidate and obstruct the election, and the 
unprecedented use of the veto to maintain its corrupt and despotic 
powers, insult the people and imperil their institutions. 

7 We execrate the course of this administration in making places 
in the civil service a reward for political crime, and demand a reform 
by statute which shall make it forever impossible for a defeated can- 
didate to bribe his way to the seat of a usurper by billeting villains 

UP °8 The P greit'fraud of 1876-77. by which, upon a false count of the 
Electoral votes of two States, the candidate, defeated at the polls was 
declared to be President, and for the first time in American hstorj 
the will of the people was set aside under a threat of mihtary violence, 
which struck a deadly blow at our system of representative govern- 
ment. The Democratic party, to preserve the country from the terror 
of a civil war, submitted [for the time in firm and patriotic farth that 
the people would punish its crime in 1880. This issue P«ccdesand 
dwarfs everv other. It imposes a more sacred duty upon the people 
than ever addressed the consciences of a nation of rree,nen " d 

9. The resolution of Samuel J. Tilden not again to be a ™™** 
for the exalted place to which he was elected by a majority o hiscoun 
trymen, and from which he was excluded by the lenders of the Repub- 
lican party, is received bv the Democrats of the United States with 
deep sensibility, and they declare their confidence in his wisdom, pat- 



414 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

riotism, and integrity, unshaken by the assaults of the common enemy; 
and they further assure him that he is followed into the retirement he 
has chosen for himself by the sympathy and respect of his fellow-citi- 
zens, who regard him as one who, by elevating the standard of public 
morality, and adorning and purifying the public service, merits the 
lasting gratitude of his country and his party. 

10. Free ships and a living chance for American commerce on the 
seas, and on the land no discrimination in favor of transportation 
lines, corporations, or monopolies. 

11. Amendment of the Burlingame treaty; no more Chinese 
emigration, except for travel, education, and foreign commerce, and 
it even carefully guarded. 

12. Public money and public credit for public purposes solely; and 
public land for actual settlers. 

13. The Democratic party is the friend of labor and the laboring 
man, ami pledges itself to protect him alike against the cormorants 
and the Commune. 

14. We congratulate the country upon the honesty and thrift of a 
Demcratic Congress which has reduced the public expenditures $40,- 
000,000a year; upon the continuation of prosperity at home, and the 
national honor abroad; and, above all, upon the promise of such a 
change in the administration of the Government as shall insure us 
genuine and lasting reform in every department of the public service. 

The report of the Committee on Resolutions was unanimously 
adopted. 

The nomination of candidates for Vice-president 
was next in order; when, upon motion of General 
Pettus, of Alabama, accompanied with a speech 
highly eulogistic of the Democracy of Indiana, Hon. 
Wm. H. English was placed in nomination ; Arkansas 
seconded the nomination. As the roll was called, 
State after State followed suit, until Ohio was reached, 
when, out of compliment for the Governor of this 
State, Hon. John P. Irish nominated R. M. Bishop. 
The English "boom" had gained the ascendency, 
however, and one of the favorite sons of Indiana 
was nominated, with a whoop loud enough to awake 
the dead. 



EON. JOHN F. FOLLETT. 417 

On motion, the roll was then called for the 
selection of the members of the National Committee, 
and various other business incident to the "clearing 
up" of such assemblages, and at three o'clock the 
convention adjourned sine die. 

After the nomination, ratification meetings were 
held in the evening, under the direction of Hon. 
John F. Follett, at the different hotels. Mr. Follett 
delivered an able address from the balcony of the 
Grand, that was heartily applauded by the large as- 
semblage gathered to hear him ; he was followed 
by Wade Hampton, Breckinridge, Watterson, and 
others. 

The first news received from the South was a 
salute of one hundred guns from Charleston, South 
Carolina, in honor of Hancock. New York, Brook- 
lyn, and other large cities, responded in the most em- 
phatic manner possible, by the firing of guns, sending 
of telegrams, and congratulations on the nominations. 
Every-where the opinion prevailed that the North 
and the South, Tammany and anti-Tammany, were 
united, and all differences between the factional sec- 
tions of the country were healed by these nominations. 

Soon after the nomination of Hancock telegrams 
began to flow in from many sections of the country, 
congratulating the convention on the wisdom of its 
choice. At the same time General Hancock, on his 
island home, was surprised upon learning the action 
of the convention, but as one congratulation after 
another followed in quick succession, he became 
gradually awakened to the realization of it as a fact. 
Hancock was once before a candidate for the nomi- 

27 



418 NA TIONA L DEMOCRA TIC CONVENTION. 

nation of a Democratic convention. That was at 
Tammany Hall, New York, July 4th. Hon. Au- 
gustus Belmont was chairman of the convention, 
and delivered the opening' speech. The convention 
met at noon of Saturday. On the following Tues- 
day six ballots were taken, Pendleton leading the 
list of eleven nominees by vote in the following 
order: 105, 103, 119^, nSj4> 122, 122^. At 
the same time General Hancock received ballots as 
follows: 33%, 45, 45^, 43^, 46, 47. On Wed- 
nesday the balloting was resumed. Hancock's vote 
stood as follows: Seventh ballot, 42^; eighth bal- 
lot, 28; ninth ballot, 34^2 ; tenth ballot, 34; eleventh 
ballot, 32^ ; twelfth ballot, 30; thirteenth ballot, 
48^ ; fourteenth ballot, 56 ; fifteenth ballot, 79j4 ', 
sixteenth ballot, 113^; seventeenth ballot, 137^; 
eighteenth ballot, 1443/2. 

At this point Vallandingham mounted a chair 
and pressed for an adjournment, which was carried ; 
and that night was a stirring one, the efforts being 
made principally against Hancock, which combina- 
tion was effected, and Horatio Seymour on the next 
clay, after several ballots, received 317 votes, and 
was declared the nominee of the convention. 

After Hancock and English were officielly noti- 
fied of their nominations, they sent in their letters of 
acceptance, which read as follows : 

" Governor's Island, j 
" New York, July 2Q, 1880. j 

"Gentlemen: — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of 
your letter of July 13th, 1880, apprising- me, formally, of my nomina- 
tion to the office of President of the United States by the National 
Democratic Convention, lately assembled in Cincinnati. I accept the 
nomination, with a grateful appreciation of the confidence reposed in 



LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 419' 

me. The principles enumerated by the convention are those I have 
cherished in the past, and shall endeavor to maintain in the future. 

"The thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments to the Con- 
stitution of the United States, embodying the results of the war for the 
Union, are inviolable. If called to the Presidency, I should deem it 
my duty to resist, with all of my power, any attempt to impair or 
evade the full force and effect of the Constitution, which, in every ar- 
ticle, section, and amendment, is the supreme law of the land. The 
Constitution forms the basis of the government of the United States. 
The powers granted by it to the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial 
departments define and limit the authority of the general government ; 
powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor 
prohibited by it to the States, belong to the States respectively, or to 
the people. The general and State governments, each acting in its 
own sphere, without trenching upon the lawful jurisdiction of the 
other, constitute the Union. 

"This Union, comprising a general government with general pow- 
ers, and the State governments with State powers, for the purposes 
local to the States, is a polity, the foundations of which were laid in 
the profoundest wisdom. This is the Union our fathers made, which 
has been so respected abroad and so beneficent at home. Tried by 
blood and fire, it stands to-day a model form of free popular govern- 
ment, a political system which, rightly administered, has been, and 
will continue to be, the admiration of the world. May we not say, 
nearly in the words of Washington, the unity of government, which 
constitutes us one people, is justly dear to us? It is the main pillar in 
the edifice of our real independence, the support of our peace, safety, 
prosperity, and of that liberty we so highly prize, and intend, at every 
hazard, to preserve. 

" But no form of government, however carefully devised, no prin- 
ciples, however sound, will protect the rights of the people unless the 
administration is faithful and efficient. It is a vital principal in our 
system that neither fraud nor force must be allowed to subvert the 
rights of the people. When fraud, violence, or incompetence controls, 
the noblest constitutions and wisest laws are useless. The bayonet is 
not a fit instrument for collecting the votes of freemen. It is only by 
a full vote, a free ballot, and fair count that the people can rule in 
fact, as required by the theory of our Government. Take this founda- 
tion away and the whole structure falls. 

"Public office is a trust, not a bounty bestowed upon the holder, 
and no incompetent or dishonest persons should ever be intrusted 
with it ; or, if appointed, they should be promptly ejected. The basis 
of a substantial, practical civil service reform must first be established 



420 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

by the people in filling the elective offices. If they fix a high stand- 
ard of qualifications for office, and sternly reject the corrupt and incom- 
petent, the result will be decisive in governing the action of the 
servants whom they intrust with the appointing power. 

"The war for the Union was successfully closed more than fifteen 
years ago. All classes of our people should share alike in the bless- 
ings of the Union, and are equally concerned in its perpetuity, and in 
the proper administration of public affairs. We are in a state of pro- 
found peace. Henceforth let it be our purpose to cultivate sentiments 
of friendship, and not of animosity, among our fellow-citizens. Out- 
material interests, varied and progressive, demand our constant and 
united efforts. 

"A sedulous and scrupulous care of the public credit, together 
with a wise and economical management of our governmental ex- 
penditures, should be maintained, in order that labor may be lightly 
burdened and that all persons may be protected in their rights to the 
fruits of their own industry. 

" The time has come to enjoy the substantial benefits of reconcili- 
ation as one people. We have common interests. Let us encourage 
the harmony and generous rivalry among our own industries, which 
will revive our languishing merchant marine, extend our commerce 
with foreign nations, assist our merchants, manufacturers, and produc- 
ers to develop our vast natural resources, and increase the prosperity 
and happiness of our people. 

" If elected, I shall, with the Divine favor, labor with what ability 
I possess to discharge my duties with fidelity, according to my con- 
victions, and shall take care to protect and defend the Union, and to 
see that the laws be faithfully and equally executed in all parts of the 
country alike. I will assume the responsibility, fully sensible of the 
fact that to administer rightly the functions of the Government is to 
discharge the most sacred duty that can devolve upon an American 
citizen. 

" I am, very respectfully yours, Winfield S. Hancock. 

"To the Hon. John W. Stevenson, president of the convention; Hon. 
John P. Stockton, chairman, and others of the committee of the 
National Democratic Convention." 

The above letter furnishes a clear statement of 
General Hancock's views on national affairs. 

Hon. William H. English transmitted the fol 
lowing letter of acceptance of the nomination ot 



LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 421 

candidate for Vice-president to the Committee on 

Notification : 

" Indianapolis, Ind., July 30, 1880. 
" To Hon. John W. Stevenson, president of the convention ; Hon. 
John P. Stockton, chairman, and other members of the Com- 
mittee on Notification: 

" Gentlemen: — I have now the honor to reply to your letter of the 
13th inst., informing me that I was unanimously nominated for the 
office of Vice-president of the United States by the late Democratic 
National Convention, which assembled at Cincinnati. 

"As foreshadowed in the verbal remarks made by me at the time 
of the delivery of your letter, I have now to say that I accept the high 
trust with a realizing sense of its responsibility, and am profoundly 
grateful for the honor conferred. 

"I accept the nomination upon the platform of principles adopted 
by the convention, which I accordingly approve, and I accept it quite 
as much because of my faith in the wisdom and patriotism of the 
great statesman and soldier nominated on the same ticket for President 
of the United States. His eminent services to his country ; his fidelity 
to the Constitution, the Union, and the laws; his clear perception of 
the correct principles of government as taught by Jefferson ; his scru- 
pulous care to keep the military in strict subordination to the civil au- 
thorities; his high regard for civil liberty, personal rights, and the 
rights of property ; his acknowledged ability in civil as well as military 
affairs, and his pure and blameless life, all point to him as a man 
worthy of the confidence of the people. Not only a brave soldier, a 
great commander, a wise statesman, and a pure patriot, but a pru- 
dent, painstaking, practical man, of unquestioned honesty, trusted 
often with important public duties, faithful to every trust, and in the 
full meridian of ripe and vigorous manhood, he is, in my judgment, 
eminently fitted for the highest office on earth — the Presidency of the 
United States. 

" Not only is he the right man for the place, but the time has come 
when the best interests of the country require that the party which 
has monopolized the executive department of the general government 
for the past twenty years should be retired. The continuance of that 
party in power four years longer would not be beneficial to the public 
or in accordance with the spirit of our republican institutions. Laws 
of entail have not been favored in our system of government ; the 
perpetuation of property or place in one family or set of men has 
never been encouraged in this country, and the great and good men 
who formed our republican government and its traditions wisely limited 



422 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

the tenure of office, and in many ways showed their disapproval of 
Ion"- lease of power. Twenty years of continuous power is long enough, 
and has already led to irregularities and corruptions which are not 
likely to be properly exposed under the same party that perpetrated 
them. 

" Besides, it should not be forgotten that the last four years of 
power held by that party were procured by discreditable means, and 
held in defiance of the wishes of a majority of the people. It was a 
grievous wrong to every voter, and to our system of self-government, 
which should never be forgotten or forgiven. Many of the men now 
in office were put there because of corrupt partisan services in 
thus defeating the fairly and legally expressed will of the majority ; 
and the hypocrisy of the professions of that party in favor of civil 
service reform was shown by placing such men in office, and turning 
the whole brood of federal office-holders loose to influence the elections. 

" The money of the people, taken out of the public treasury by 
these men for services often poorly performed, or not performed at all, 
is being used in vast sums, with the knowledge and presumed sanction 
of the administration, who control the elections ; and even members 
of the cabinet are strolling about the country making partisan speeches, 
instead of being in their departments at Washington, discharging the 
public duties for which they are paid by the people. But with all their 
cleverness and ability, a discriminating public will no doubt read be- 
tween the lines of their speeches that their paramount hope and aim 
is to keep themselves or their satellites four years longer in office. 
That perpetuating the power of chronic federal office-holders four years 
longer will not benefit the millions of men and women who hold no 
office, but earn their daily bread by honest industry, is what the same 
discerning public will no doubt fully understand, as they will also that 
it is because of their own industry and economy, and God's bountiful 
harvests, that the country is comparatively prosperous, and not because 
of any thing done by these federal office-holders. 

"The country is comparatively prosperous, not because of them, 
but in spite of them. This contest is, in fact, between the people en- 
deavoring to regain the political power which rightfully belongs to them, 
and to restore the pure, simple, economical, constitutional government 
of our fathers, on the one side, and one hundred thousand federal of- 
fice-holders and their backers, pampered with place and power, and 
determined to retain them at all hazards, on the other. Hence the 
constant assumption of new and dangerous powers by the general 
government under the rule of the Republican party. The effort to 
build up what they call a strong government, the interference with 
home rule, and with the administration of justice in the courts of the 



LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 423 

several States, the interference with the election through the medium 
of paid partisan federal office-holders, interested in keeping their party 
in power, and caring more for that than fairness in the elections ; in 
fact, the constant encroachments which have been made by that party 
upon the clearly reserved rights of the people and the States, will, if 
not checked, subvert the liberties of the people and the government 
of the limited powers created by the fathers, and end in a great con- 
solidated central government, strong, indeed, but for evil and the 
overthrow of republican institutions. 

" The wise men who formed our Constitution knew the evils of 
strong government and the long continuance of political power in the 
same hands. They knew there was a tendency in this direction in all 
governments, and consequent danger to republican institutions from 
that course, and took pains to guard against it. The machinery of a 
strong, centralized general government can be used to perpetuate the 
same set of men in power from term to term, until it ceases to be a 
republic, or is such only in name ; and the tendency of the party now 
in power is in that direction, as shown in various ways, besides the 
willingness recently manifested by a large number of that party to 
elect a President an unlimited number of terms, is quite apparent, 
and must satisfy thinking people that the time has come when it will 
be safest and best for that party to be retired. 

"But in resisting the encroachments of the general government 
upon the reserved rights of the people and the States, I wish to be 
distinctly understood as favoring the proper exercise, by the general 
government, of the powers rightfully belonging to it under the Con- 
stitution. Encroachments upon the constitutional rights of the general 
government, or interference with the proper exercise of its powers, must 
be carefully avoided. The union of the States, under the Constitution, 
must be maintained, and it is well known that this has always been the 
position of both the candidates on the Democratic Presidential ticket. 

" It is acquiesced in every-where now, and finally and forever set- 
tled as one of the results of the war ; it is certain beyond all question, 
that the legitimate results of the war for the Union will not be over- 
thrown or impaired should the Democratic ticket be elected. In that 
event, proper protection will be given, in every legitimate way, to every 
citizen, native or adopted, in every section of the Republic, in the en- 
joyment of all the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and its amend- 
ments. 

" A sound currency of honest money, of a value and purchasing 
power corresponding substantially with the standard recognized by the 
commercial world, and consisting of gold and silver, and paper con- 
vertible into coin, will be maintained ; the labor and manufacturing, 



424 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

commercial and business interests of the country will be favored and 
encouraged in every legitimate way ; the toiling millions of our own 
people will be protected from the destructive competition of the Chinese ( 
and to that end their immigration to our shores will be properly 
restricted; the public credit will be scrupulously maintained and 
strengthened by rigid economy in public expenditures; and the lib- 
erties of the people and the property of the people will be protected 
by a government of law and order, administered in the interests of all 
the people and not of corporations and privileged classes. 

" I do not doubt the discriminating justice of the people, and their 
capacity for intelligent self-government, and therefore do not doubt 
the success of the Democratic ticket. Its success would bury, beyond 
resurrection, the sectional jealousies and hatreds which have so long 
been the stock-in-trade of pestiferous demagogues, and in no other 
way can this be so effectually accomplished. It would restore harmony 
and good feeling between all the sections, and make us in fact, as well 
as in name, one people. The only rivalry then would be in the race 
for the development of national prosperity, the elevation of labor, the 
enlargement of human rights, the promotion of education, morality, 
religion, liberty, order, and all that would tend to make us the foremost 
nation of the earth in the grand march of human progress. 
" I am, with great respect, very truly yours, 

"William H. English." 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 700 316 8 



lllllbss 

1 







. 




llililis 



N|lijyiM||Mij{j|jijiyKj 
Ml! 



' . • V; ■'•' ■ 



